Xman wrote:INCOMING NRL boss David Smith will need to school-up on sponsorship negotiations as the code braces for a complete overhaul of its biggest commercial partners.
Bundaberg Rum is the latest NRL sponsor to call fulltime on its association, while Toyota is not guaranteed to continue its support of the national youth (under 20) competition.
The competition's naming rights holder, Telstra, continues to consider its future role.
Harvey Norman last month announced it would no longer sponsor State of Origin after 15 years of naming rights..
The potential exit of four of the game's biggest sponsors could leave the new ALRC regime with an eight-figure hole to fill in their budget, but insiders are confident of securing replacements before next year's competition begins.
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The ALRC is also on the verge of announcing a new broadcast deal across the Tasman, with interim CEO Shane Mattiske travelling to New Zealand this week for discussions with Sky NZ.
Bundaberg has been involved since 2007, when the rum distillery switched rugby codes to support the re-birth of Monday Night Football.
It also has naming rights of the third tier NSW open age competition, the Bundy Cup, and more recently sponsored Channel 9's Friday Night Football coverage.
Bundaberg said it was a "change in strategy", as opposed to "any dissatisfaction with rugby league."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/b ... 6526140600
Oh yes dropping like Flies..................
Holden agrees to $5 million sponsorship of State of Origin and Kangaroos
RUGBY league will cap off a record-breaking year with one final celebration - after one of Australia's biggest brands last night agreed to a $5 million annual sponsorship deal with the greatest game of all in 2013.
News Limited can reveal car giant Holden is set to take over as the naming rights sponsor of State of Origin and the Australian Kangaroos.
It will be the second biggest sponsorship deal in the game's history, behind the recently announced $100 million five-year partnership with Telstra.
ARLC interim chief executive Shane Mattiske would not confirm the deal with Holden was done but admitted last night the game had plenty to cheer this Christmas.
"We are not in a position to make an announcement in relation to State of Origin or the Kangaroos sponsorships but there has certainly been an incredible amount of interest," he said.
Harvey Norman cut its 15-year association with State of Origin in October but it is understood this new deal is worth twice as much annually.
Harvey Norman paid just over $2 million for Origin while it's believed the VB-Kangaroo deal was worth about $400,000 a year.
Mattiske added: "We'd always been confident that Origin would attract a high level of interest and significant value and we are confident that we will be able to make a firm announcement early in the new year once our negotiations are finalised."
A Holden spokesman told News Limited last night: "Holden is revamping its marketing to allow it to sell more Australian-built cars.
"As such we are considering a number of multimillion-dollar marketing opportunities.
"We are not in a position to confirm anything at this time but we are always interested at joining forces with iconic Australian brands."
The ARLC is still on the lookout for someone to take over from Bundaberg Rum after the distillery last month ended its association with Monday Night Football. But Mattiske was confident all the game's major sponsorship deals would be locked in early in the new year.
"The 2012 season has been a great year in terms of breaking all sorts of records and building strong foundations for the game," Mattiske said.
"It is really exciting to have renewed our partnership with Telstra and the game is in such a strong position now. We're pleased to see such strong companies approaching the game with a high level of interest.
"Bundy has stepped out but there are a range of major consumer brands who are showing interest and we are very close to making an announcement across the majority of sponsorship categories.
"The exciting thing is we have a high level of interest across the board in our sponsorship properties."
There is a reason they are dropping like Flies one Word...............................................
Double
Add 25m to our tally boys.....
=D> =D>
The NRL are commending double the sponsorship dollars in all parts of there business. Well Done commissioners well done................ =D> =D> =D> =D>
