Allianz scraps Saracens sponsorship
New blow to English and European rugby champions as fallout from financial scandal spreads
Allianz is scrapping its sponsorship deal with Saracens after the rugby team was relegated for persistent breaches of the sport’s salary cap rules in the latest blow to the English and European club champions.
The German insurance group has been Saracens’ principal sponsor since 2012, with its contract due to end in 2021. But Allianz executives have decided to end the deal a year early, following a cheating scandal that has rocked the game, according to several people familiar with the decision. One of the people said the deal was worth £2m a year to Saracens.
The sponsorship had been a boon for Allianz’s goal of building its brand by being associated with leading sports groups, with Saracens winning the Premiership four times and the European Champions Cup three times during the course of their deal.
In November, the club was fined £5.4m and docked 35 points after a series of co-investments that its owner and former chairman Nigel Wray, the property magnate, made with high-profile players were found to have breached regulations that limit payments to players. In January, Saracens apologised “unreservedly” for continued salary cap breaches and agreed to the unprecedented punishment of relegation from Premiership Rugby, the top tier of English club rugby union.
Those revelations over recent weeks led to tension between the two parties. Allianz responded by saying it is a company that acts “with transparency and integrity” and that it would hold talks with Saracens “to confirm this shared understanding and commitment going forward”.
Last week, Allianz informed Saracens it would abandon the sponsorship, according to people with knowledge of the talks who requested anonymity because the decision has yet to be announced. The club is trying to keep Allianz on board but has already started the search for a new sponsor, according to others informed of the discussions.
Allianz and Saracens declined to comment.
Allianz has poured money into sports sponsorship around the world in recent years. Stadiums have been the biggest target of its multimillion euro marketing budget, viewing naming rights as a good way to keep the brand in the news regularly. There are Allianz-branded venues in Munich, Turin, Nice, Vienna, Minnesota and São Paulo.
The insurer also has naming rights to Allianz Park in North London, where Saracens play their home matches. It is not clear whether the insurer will retain that stadium naming deal even after it pulls its sponsorship contract with the rugby club.
The move will be a further financial blow for Saracens, with uncertainty over which star players will stay at the club next season and income already set to be hit due to relegation. According to Companies House records, Saracens had pre-tax losses of £3.9m in the year ended June 30 2018, widening from a £2.8m loss a year earlier. Revenues remained largely flat at £17.9m.