Bet Victor Announce Early Sponsorship Termination

It’s been confirmed that Bet Victor’s sponsorship of the Isthmian, Northern and Southern Leagues which covers Step 3 and 4 of English non-league system, has now been terminated after one year ahead.

This move comes with Bet Victor have served their notice to the three football leagues during the first week of March which was over a month ago. The notice meant the company was activating its break clause in the three contracts that it had with the sponsorship officially set to end on 9th July 2020. All of the leagues were required to keep this information confidential until today with only the boards of the leagues notified about the move.

The Isthmian League in particular added into their statement that the decision by Bet Victor was made prior to and not influenced by the Coronavirus crisis which currently has the UK in lockdown over.

In a letter sent to all of the Isthmian League clubs today, it said:

“BetVictor have terminated the sponsorship for a number of reasons, but mainly due to the fact that the increasing compliance restrictions and challenges faced in their first seven months outweighed the benefits they were drawing from the sponsorship. However, the escalating negativity towards betting in football did not help, nor did – most disappointingly – compliance breaches by clubs in and outside of the Isthmian League.

“Although the search for a new sponsor has began, the Covid-19 crisis makes it very difficult to engage meaningfully with potential replacements. So, as of now, the Leagues operating at Step Three and Four have no main sponsor for season 2020/21.”

Isthmian League Chairman Nick Robinson was also revealed to have stated:

“We are very disappointed that this decision was made as it means that we are not able to develop the relationship with the sponsor. We are actively looking for a new sponsor, but are apprehensive at this time due to the general economic downturn due to Covid-19.

“We believe we have a good and marketable product which has attracted sponsors for nearly 40 years, and we hope will continue to do so once we are able to restart the League.”

Reaction & Analysis – Andy Wilkins:

What this move by Bet Victor on the Isthmian, Southern and Northern Premier Leagues is a range of things with both good and bad consequences throughout. Whilst many people have welcomed the news of Bet Victor’s departure from sponsoring the league, its will mean that potentially the leagues might not ever get the chance to be sponsored by such a high profile company that has got a place in mainstream British media advertising.

Even some clubs like Sholing FC have voiced their displeasure at this seasons sponsors and have openly welcomed the news:

Won't be missed. There was zero benefit to us & it went against our ethos as a community & youth focused club.

— Sholing FC (@sholingfc) April 11, 2020

A fan of Whitehawk from the Isthmian South East was able to see the good side whilst also remaining a tad optimistic for the future:

No tears shed here. Just hope a good non-betting sponsor can be found.

— In The Din (@Inthedin1) April 11, 2020

But overall though, with potentially less than four months before the league campaigns could start up, this news now means that the Isthmian, Southern and Northern Premier Leagues will have to seek a new sponsor in a very short amount of time. Something that I wouldn’t like to behind searching for if being entirely honest.

No doubt, gone are the days where you could find a sponsor like Ryman Stationary who were behind the Isthmian League for 20 years or Evo-Stik who were behind sponsoring the Southern League for a combined seven years over two spells alongside sponsoring the Northern Premier League for a total of nine years non-stop.

With a reported £30,000 being what the sponsorship deal was involving Bet Victor and the leagues, finding such a sponsor that can offer such a hefty amount will be sure a tough one and no doubt, it wouldn’t surprise me if the leagues start their 2020/21 campaigns without such a sponsor which could be draining on their finances.

That said, I don’t feel the Bet Victor sponsorship was at all a good deal for clubs and even leagues if being entirely honest. If you went on any Pitchero website that belonged to that of a club who was a member of the aforementioned leagues, you wouldn’t be allowed to see any Bet Victor promotional content on the top of your screen unless you confirmed you was 18 or over. It almost became like the annoying cookie popups that you have on day-to-day websites.

But that said, Bet Victor were hardly putting their leagues out openly on show to the main general public like some companies do when they sponsor such an asset very much like what Barclays and Ryman did during their years of sponsoring the Premier League and the Isthmian League. Even to an extent, Npower showcased the strength of the Championship alongside Leagues 1 and 2 during their short four year reign of sponsorship between 2010 and 2013.

I think as a spectator who has watched a fair share Isthmian League football this season, it felt weird that the sleeve sponsor on each shirt wasn’t of Bet Victor as you would expect but more the actual league logo itself.

Ultimately, the future right now in the eyes of the leagues might be looking a tad bleak on the money side of things for them all but it does rid themselves of criticism for siding up with a company who are involving in the gambling industry which continues to be ever damaging to British society and sport in general.

I will be very interested when the news is revealed as to what company takes on that golden sponsorship offer that is available at the Isthmian, Southern and Northern Premier Leagues.