Star_of_Davids
Well-Known Member
- Aug 31, 2005
- 490
- 281
For those who can't get behind The Times paywall
Spurs beat path from North London to Far East with AIA deal
Looming over a boardroom table in Hong Kong, the chief executive of the insurance giant AIA — a hell-bent, die-hard, all-consuming Chelsea fan — now longs for Tottenham Hotspur to win the Champions’ League.
“It chokes me to say it,” says Mark Tucker, glaring amicably at Daniel Levy, the chairman of Spurs sitting at his side: “But professionally speaking, yes, I would now be much happier if they win.”
At a visceral level, the odds were against the Tucker-Levy duo of notoriously uncompromising London negotiators assembling,
let alone reaching a deal. But Asia, with its combination of emerging consumer passions and disposable income, is cheerfully ripping-up the old rules of strategy and probability.
The pair is in Hong Kong to seal a five-year shirt sponsorship deal estimated at about £80 million. From next season the red logo of AIA, Asia’s largest life insurer, will be emblazoned on Tottenham shirts for all cup matches and Premier League games. Spurs players, who are wearing shirts bearing the AIA logo for cup matches this season — including their Europa League game against Dnipro in Ukraine on Thursday — will be touting a brand that is not remotely intended for British or European eyes.
The secrecy around the value of the deal, and the claim by both that the other got the better end of the bargaining, hints again at the unlikeliness of the entente. But in order to achieve Mr Levy’s soaring ambitions for Tottenham in domestic and European competitions, he needs dramatically heftier revenues. The north London club needs a new stadium, it needs great players and it needs to win, says Mr Levy, and it also badly needs Asia.
“From our point of view, this sponsorship deal wasn’t just about getting the maximum price,” Mr Levy said.
“Since when?” said Mr Tucker.
“Believe me, it wasn’t. We wanted to be in Asia and we wanted to extend our footprint in Asia,” Mr Levy said.
The raw statistics of English Premier League fandom already amply justify a deal of this sort. In common with other clubs, Spurs and Mr Levy rely on data that blurs the difference between “fans” (who support one club) and “followers” (who may support several), but they are confident that they have 80 million supporters in Asia.
Other major English clubs, especially Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, have long recognised the huge commercial value of their growing Asian fan-bases. They have already made rapid headway, and many have Asia-specific sponsorship deals that richly monetise that.
The deal with AIA, says Mr Levy, means that the pursuit of the Asian fan has now officially become a strategic priority. “I think it is right to assume, particularly given the growth of the Premier League anyway, that we would expect it [the Spurs fan-base in Asia] to grow by millions,” said Mr Levy.
The dual appeal of the deal, Mr Tucker and Mr Levy explained, is neatly illustrated by Indonesia — a country with enticing levels of economic growth, an only partially tapped passion for Premier League football, low levels of life insurance coverage and a population where 60 per cent of people are aged under 30.
Both Mr Tucker and Mr Levy are selling products that require the young, financially liquid consumer to commit early and for the long term. AIA sends large salesforces around Indonesia to sell life insurance policies, and recently signed a multibillion-dollar, 15-year deal to distribute its products through Citibank’s Asian branch network.
Spurs, for whom Indonesian followers of the club’s official Facebook page are the second largest group after the British contingent, wants to convert young Indonesians into Spurs fans before they are seduced by Manchester United or Liverpool.
It is a quest, Mr Levy says, that undoubtedly requires Tottenham to win some trophies, but will be significantly helped by the association with a consumer brand that already has high advertising penetration throughout Asia.
Mr Levy’s determination to swell the fan-base in Asia is, strategically timed. In an attempt to grow overall viewer numbers, the English Premier League is in a six-year deal to broadcast games for free in China so that an addiction can be established for future exploitation. Vietnam and Thailand continue to produce hundreds of thousands of Premiership fans every year. With financial markets still reluctant to divert big institutional money into football, says Mr Levy, Asia offers many potential revenue streams for a more revenue-dependent era.
By next year, the rules and sanctions of “Financial Fair Play” will descend on the Premier League, supposedly forcing clubs to operate more sustainable business models. Some suspect that it will cement the position of the four largest clubs, others that it will reduce the capacity of billionaire oligarchs and oil Sheikhs — and ultimately energy or commodity prices — to dictate the way players are priced in the transfer market.
“The new fair play principle is without doubt going to have a very material impact on how clubs are run so the irrational behaviour of owners although it will still be there to an extent is going to be severely limited by the need to run clubs as a proper business,” Mr Levy said. “Tottenham Hotspur has always been run on a rational basis. It’s one of the few clubs that has been consistently profitable.”
Most recently, profitability has been boosted by Tottenham’s record-breaking, sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for £85 million in a deal that prompted some to question whether Mr Levy was allowing his skill as a trader of players to outweigh the need to build the sort of star-studded trophy-winning squad he admits he needs to attract Asian fans.
“It wasn’t a money decision that forced us to sell him. I easily would have turned down 125 million if we believed that Gareth would have been a committed Tottenham player. I would much rather be sitting here with Gareth Bale in the team, but we are dealing with people. Tottenham is not a club that can consistently pay £50 million for a player. We have to make our players,” Mr Levy said.
Asked whether, as a consequence of Mr Levy’s notorious negotiating skills, Mr Tucker had transferred any allegiance from Chelsea to Spurs, the AIA chief executive said that he would not, himself, be wearing the new AIA-branded Tottenham shirt.
“I think there are certain limits,” Mr Tucker said. “When Tottenham win the Champions’ League, I will wear one.”
Spurs beat path from North London to Far East with AIA deal
Looming over a boardroom table in Hong Kong, the chief executive of the insurance giant AIA — a hell-bent, die-hard, all-consuming Chelsea fan — now longs for Tottenham Hotspur to win the Champions’ League.
“It chokes me to say it,” says Mark Tucker, glaring amicably at Daniel Levy, the chairman of Spurs sitting at his side: “But professionally speaking, yes, I would now be much happier if they win.”
At a visceral level, the odds were against the Tucker-Levy duo of notoriously uncompromising London negotiators assembling,
let alone reaching a deal. But Asia, with its combination of emerging consumer passions and disposable income, is cheerfully ripping-up the old rules of strategy and probability.
The pair is in Hong Kong to seal a five-year shirt sponsorship deal estimated at about £80 million. From next season the red logo of AIA, Asia’s largest life insurer, will be emblazoned on Tottenham shirts for all cup matches and Premier League games. Spurs players, who are wearing shirts bearing the AIA logo for cup matches this season — including their Europa League game against Dnipro in Ukraine on Thursday — will be touting a brand that is not remotely intended for British or European eyes.
The secrecy around the value of the deal, and the claim by both that the other got the better end of the bargaining, hints again at the unlikeliness of the entente. But in order to achieve Mr Levy’s soaring ambitions for Tottenham in domestic and European competitions, he needs dramatically heftier revenues. The north London club needs a new stadium, it needs great players and it needs to win, says Mr Levy, and it also badly needs Asia.
“From our point of view, this sponsorship deal wasn’t just about getting the maximum price,” Mr Levy said.
“Since when?” said Mr Tucker.
“Believe me, it wasn’t. We wanted to be in Asia and we wanted to extend our footprint in Asia,” Mr Levy said.
The raw statistics of English Premier League fandom already amply justify a deal of this sort. In common with other clubs, Spurs and Mr Levy rely on data that blurs the difference between “fans” (who support one club) and “followers” (who may support several), but they are confident that they have 80 million supporters in Asia.
Other major English clubs, especially Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, have long recognised the huge commercial value of their growing Asian fan-bases. They have already made rapid headway, and many have Asia-specific sponsorship deals that richly monetise that.
The deal with AIA, says Mr Levy, means that the pursuit of the Asian fan has now officially become a strategic priority. “I think it is right to assume, particularly given the growth of the Premier League anyway, that we would expect it [the Spurs fan-base in Asia] to grow by millions,” said Mr Levy.
The dual appeal of the deal, Mr Tucker and Mr Levy explained, is neatly illustrated by Indonesia — a country with enticing levels of economic growth, an only partially tapped passion for Premier League football, low levels of life insurance coverage and a population where 60 per cent of people are aged under 30.
Both Mr Tucker and Mr Levy are selling products that require the young, financially liquid consumer to commit early and for the long term. AIA sends large salesforces around Indonesia to sell life insurance policies, and recently signed a multibillion-dollar, 15-year deal to distribute its products through Citibank’s Asian branch network.
Spurs, for whom Indonesian followers of the club’s official Facebook page are the second largest group after the British contingent, wants to convert young Indonesians into Spurs fans before they are seduced by Manchester United or Liverpool.
It is a quest, Mr Levy says, that undoubtedly requires Tottenham to win some trophies, but will be significantly helped by the association with a consumer brand that already has high advertising penetration throughout Asia.
Mr Levy’s determination to swell the fan-base in Asia is, strategically timed. In an attempt to grow overall viewer numbers, the English Premier League is in a six-year deal to broadcast games for free in China so that an addiction can be established for future exploitation. Vietnam and Thailand continue to produce hundreds of thousands of Premiership fans every year. With financial markets still reluctant to divert big institutional money into football, says Mr Levy, Asia offers many potential revenue streams for a more revenue-dependent era.
By next year, the rules and sanctions of “Financial Fair Play” will descend on the Premier League, supposedly forcing clubs to operate more sustainable business models. Some suspect that it will cement the position of the four largest clubs, others that it will reduce the capacity of billionaire oligarchs and oil Sheikhs — and ultimately energy or commodity prices — to dictate the way players are priced in the transfer market.
“The new fair play principle is without doubt going to have a very material impact on how clubs are run so the irrational behaviour of owners although it will still be there to an extent is going to be severely limited by the need to run clubs as a proper business,” Mr Levy said. “Tottenham Hotspur has always been run on a rational basis. It’s one of the few clubs that has been consistently profitable.”
Most recently, profitability has been boosted by Tottenham’s record-breaking, sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for £85 million in a deal that prompted some to question whether Mr Levy was allowing his skill as a trader of players to outweigh the need to build the sort of star-studded trophy-winning squad he admits he needs to attract Asian fans.
“It wasn’t a money decision that forced us to sell him. I easily would have turned down 125 million if we believed that Gareth would have been a committed Tottenham player. I would much rather be sitting here with Gareth Bale in the team, but we are dealing with people. Tottenham is not a club that can consistently pay £50 million for a player. We have to make our players,” Mr Levy said.
Asked whether, as a consequence of Mr Levy’s notorious negotiating skills, Mr Tucker had transferred any allegiance from Chelsea to Spurs, the AIA chief executive said that he would not, himself, be wearing the new AIA-branded Tottenham shirt.
“I think there are certain limits,” Mr Tucker said. “When Tottenham win the Champions’ League, I will wear one.”
