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Saracens have confirmed that Allianz have broken off their sponsorship deal with the club a year early.
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It was reported earlier this week that the German insurer was set to leave their agreement a season early and it marks a significant blow to the club’s finances.
Allianz have been the Londoners’ main sponsor since 2012 but they have now decided to opt-out a year before their current £2million a year deal was due to elapse in 2021.
A statement reads: “Saracens Rugby Club can confirm that it has agreed to end its lead partnership with Allianz at the end of the 2019/20 season.
“The partnership was successful since its inception back in 2012, encompassing naming rights for Allianz Park stadium and the club’s playing shirts, as well as Principal Partner of the Saracens Sports Foundation.
“Saracens would like to thank Allianz for its support over the last eight years and the Club is pleased that it has re-affirmed its commitment to the Foundation until the end of the 2020/21 season. This ensures continuity in what is such a key aspect of the Club’s community programme in a partnership which uses the power of sports to inspire and improve lives throughout the north London community.
Rohan Janse van Rensburg talks genes, @SaleSharksRugby and wanting to be rep the @Springboks once again
– with @chrisjonespress 👨💻https://t.co/2ee0j0RhRr
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 13, 2020
“Saracens look forward to the remainder of the 2019/20 season working with the Allianz team around the club’s existing games at Allianz Park as well as its showpiece fixture The Showdown at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 28th March, where Saracens will play in Allianz’s special edition blue shirt.
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“Saracens look forward to working with our stable of committed Principal Partners including Nike, Hy-Pro and Simba and we would like to thank them for their ongoing support. We are also excited about developing new commercial partnerships in the coming months.”
How Saracens fare in trying to secure a replacement will be watched with interest. It was in November, shortly after the initial punishments were handed down by Premiership Rugby, that a sponsorship expert warned that they troubled club faced two years of pain as a toxic brand.
Sponsorship industry expert Nigel Currie, a former joint chairman of the European Sponsorship Association, told RugbyPass: “Saracens have become a toxic brand and only time can get them back to where they want to be.
“It’s similar to Rangers in Scottish football who dropped down after breaking various rules. You just have to rebuild and for clubs wanting instant success, it is pretty bad news. There is a danger that Saracens could get relegated from the Premiership and the damage over the next two years will be pretty bad.
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“Holding onto their players and their sponsors during that period is the key thing, but having someone like Nigel Wray there is important because you don’t make money out of Premiership rugby at the moment. It’s tough and now a lot a tougher for Saracens and I don’t know if their club sponsor Allianz have some kind of embarrassment clause in their contract.”
Comments on RugbyPass
its such a shame he hasn’t achieved more success at club level. He’s really not been a potent finisher for a while now, but he’s still excellent in the kick chase. That’s the kind of skillset that generally only gets appreciated when you’re playing in premiership and european finals. I’m not sure whether the challenge cup counts given the quality of the competition seems lower than in previous years, but his duel with Mapimpi should be enthralling.
1 Go to commentsThe point is the irish players were arrogant,call it like you want sugar coat it aswell but they were you could see it in their way they handeled themselfs on the field when they got something right so dont tell me it was not arrogance it was,you can fool other people but not me,and to say to one of our players see you in the final put a nail in the coffin for this bullsh@t,just be grown men and accept it that you were arrogant,you could if seen it from a mile away, and then you lost to the allblacks what a cocky move that didnt work out for you ,Eben was right when he said u were arrogant,the point is you will deny it because you lost it all just grow some balls and move on we had won you lost accept it.
7 Go to comments“summer tour of North and South America” so its a summer tour of america?
1 Go to commentsEverybody is giving the Irish players the benefit of the doubt in ‘what they meant’, but none of these pundits or commentators offer the same courtesy to Eben. I don’t think Eben went, 1, 2, 3… etc. What might have happened is he didn’t count and when the 3rd or 5th guy said he went, hang on why are so many of them saying this… and then started to concentrate on it more and more as players continue to say it. So no, he didn’t count it, he realised many Irish players said it and made an assumption based on that… The Irish team was VERY confident at the time and I do believe they believed they were going to win the World Cup, which borders a bit on the arrogant side…
7 Go to commentsI can see how some of the Irish players would have said”see you in the final” as a gentle comment after a victory. It’s open to interpretation but it’s clumsy language. I don’t know the fella but I assure you Eben doesn’t have an axe to grind with Ireland. He has never been the media seeking pro. Oh and BTW it is I’ll be our winter in July so won’t be wet.
7 Go to comments*McCloskey*: _I saw this clip. Like, I wasn’t playing that game; I was in the stands…so you don't know sh!t in other words, infact you know just as much as Goode on this matter. I will believe the guy who was on the pitch when things were said as appose to two people speculating over what was said._
7 Go to comments@ turlough dream on buddy. Your boys are in for one tough time down in sa this summer…
7 Go to commentsI think Goode is looking to establish a platform for himself. Eben said “Probably” so that suggests he wasn’t counting. It’s an estimate Goode. I think even with your short and uneventful experience with the Sharks you probably realise winding up Saffas will get you some airtime. It’s a none event. Move on
7 Go to commentsRugby has never been as structured and synthetically pleasing as it is at this moment. The game is simply beautiful and messing with it too much will ruin it for everyone. I can't help but feel that over the past decade or so many rules have been changed to accommodate a certain hemisphere and counter another. Perhaps I am wrong but I somehow don’t think so.
2 Go to commentsNoted some excellent defensive steals from the Rebs last week against the Reds, largely J Canham, I think. It’s not a Rolls Royce but they are a real threat with their defensive line out at the beginning matches. What do you make of Canham Nick, WBs squad material?
80 Go to commentsCoin flip between Ardie and Scott Barrett. Both have their pros and cons, and both would probably be decent. Ardie has way more passion on the field, but that hasn’t always translated into the best decisions. They will both turn 34 at the next World Cup, so both will most likely have their best days a few years behind them. It’s hard to imagine now, but looking at young players coming through Ardie will probably be under the most pressure to retain his place in the team. Beauden Barrett also an outside chance if Razor sees him as the first choice 10.
7 Go to commentsQuality stuff from Flats. Rugby can’t replace football nor should we want it to. I think the ‘product’ (awful term sorry) now is absolutely fantastic. Growing the game shouldn’t be at the expense of losing its brutal beauty.
2 Go to commentsI think they’ll choose Scott Barret as captain, Ardie 7, Hoskins 8, Finau at 6.
7 Go to commentsSo what were saying is if you make it through to the play offs in Europe you’re likely to suffer at the tail end of the prem. No extra cash for playing in Europe, more chance of injury, fatiguing the team…while others not through rest up. whats the point??
1 Go to commentsClaims that Finau is a risky proposition are hyperbole. His tackles have been mostly perfectly timed and executed except for the Lynach one and that was a split-second out, certainly not 2 seconds. Social media criticism shows opposition fans are nervous about Finau’s impact. I see Jacobson and Blackadder as no.7s, they don’t have the power, size or dynamism to be 6 or 8 at Test level. Akira has shown he lacks the intuition and technique to play Tests. If he learnt to bend his back more and hit breakdowns and tackles low and hard, it would do wonders for his game. Finau is the standout option for 6 with Grace or Shields as his backup. I’d like to see Finau, Sotutu and Jacobson as an experimental back-row combo; lineout nous, dynamic ball carrying, hard defence, etc.
41 Go to commentsI find these articles so very interesting, giving a much more in depth series of insights than one can ever gain from “desktop” research. It is very significant that it is this English man that Joe Schmidt has turned to build the basement stability and reliability from the WB forwards that was so shredded during the Jones debacle. With his long period in Ireland, with both Leinster and Ireland, Schmidt will know Geoff Parling’s qualities as a player well, and he will have gone over, with a fine tooth comb, the mans time in Australia. This, one feels, will prove to be a shrewd decision. I’m particularly interested in Parling’s comments about the lineout, especially the differences in approach between the hemispheres. He talks about the impact of weather conditions on the type of lineout tactics employed. He is the right man to have preparing for a wet and windy game at Eden Park, the “Cake Tin”, or in Christchuch, or for that matter in Capetown. I must confess to being surprised by this comment though re Will Skelton: “ Is he a lineout jumper? No. But the lineout starts on the ground – contact work, lifting, utilising that massive body at the maul.” Geoff is spot on about the work Will does on the ground. But I would contest the view that he is not a lineout jumper. I think I have commented before on this one, so won’t go further than referring to the end of the last Cup Final in Dublin, LAR using Will on maybe 3 occasions at No 2 in the lineout. And I have seen him used by LAR in Top 14, and never seen him beaten to the catch…but in reality that would only be a total of 10 times max.
80 Go to commentsDaltons a great guy and can lead at any level with that humility
7 Go to commentsWell if Parling is an Australian citizen then I suppose that’s OK. It’s more than can be said for The Hobbit in Absentia. I’m guessing Jordan Useless won’t be getting a call up to the Wallabies then because the Melbourne Rebels lineout coached by Parling has been a complete disaster. Parling had better prove himself or it’s out. He’ll be flattered by having one of the best lineout operators in world rugby in Rodda hopefully. If Parling can teach the Wallabies one thing it would be to also teach Australian players to make a serious effort on charge downs. Only Frost and Rodda make an effort. The rest are half hearted and lazy, bar Harry Wilson’s effort last week. There are lots of big missed opportunities.
80 Go to commentsGreat read thanks and glad he’s committed to Aus rugby! The comment from the no 8 saying he’s never done lineouts before doesn’t surprise me. There often isn’t the same upbringing with rugby here as there is in nz and parts of Europe. Seems like he’s doing a great job at the Rebels
80 Go to commentsScott Barrett. End of story.
2 Go to comments