The 2022/2023 season that is about to start will be the last in which we have the commercial name LaLiga Santander. The employers of Spanish football and the bank chaired by Ana BotÃn break their relationship and, starting next season, a new sponsor will arrive for the naming of the most important national competition at club level.
LaLiga wanted a more global brand at its side for the name of the competition from the 2023/2024 season and has finally signed with Electronic Arts. It will be its sports video game division, EA Sports, which will accompany the name of the competition.
From LaLiga Santander to LaLiga EA Sports
EA Sports, the company that creates the most popular sports video game today, the FIFA franchise (starting this September EA Sports FC), has reached an agreement with the entity chaired by Javier Tebas to name the national First Division competition Division.
The video game distribution company will contribute about 30 million euros a year, in addition to the 30 that it already contributed from current sponsorship.
As reported by Marca, in addition to the change in the nomenclature in LaLiga competitions, the agreement also includes a variation in all visual elements, such as logos, graphics and fonts to give the competition a complete facelift. It should be noted that this year LaLiga will be responsible for the production of the matches broadcast by Movistar.
It will therefore be the year of farewell to LaLiga Santander, which has been in force for the last six years and whose last season will be this 2022/2023 in which Real Madrid will defend the title. This agreement was valued at around 17 million euros, so the organization’s strategy, which sought to make national football more profitable, has been successful considering that the annual amount is practically doubled.
Income from sponsorships continues to multiply
If we look back, the national competition has achieved a 300% increase in income from sponsors in five years. The data for the 2016/2017 season was estimated at around 50 million euros per year, while at the end of the 2021/2022 season they reached 155 million euros per year, a figure that will grow with this new sponsorship for the naming rights.
The amounts for television rights have also grown in the same period, revitalizing the competition and making it more interesting at an international level. In 2016/2017 there were 825 million euros per year, while by the end of last season it reached 1,625 million euros, which is distributed among the 42 teams that make up the LFP (20 from the First Division and 22 from the Second Division).
