SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
EFL Championship football clubs have been busy strengthening their partnerships ahead of the 2018/19 season, with both Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa announcing fresh agreements with BetBright and Kindred Group respectively.
Last season’s play-off runner-up Villa has renewed and extended its relationship with Kindred, which has seen the 32Red brand become the club’s new principal partner, with Unibet set to continue as an official partner.
32Red is to see its logo featured across both home and away shirts, while Unibet is to now be seen across the Villa Park based side’s first-team training wear.
Neil Banbury, General Manager of the UK at the Kindred Group, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Aston Villa. 32Red has a successful history in football sponsorship and will look to build on the fantastic work done by the Unibet brand last season.
“The 32Red logo won’t look out of place adorning the famous claret and blue with both brands priding themselves on excitement and entertainment. The likes of which has made 32Red an industry-leader in online casinos.
“Unibet will continue to reward the legions of loyal Villains with “bettor” experiences as official betting & gaming partner, and we look forward to seeing the logo on the club’s official training wear.”
Nottingham Forest on the other hand has hailed a “landmark partnership” with BetBright, which it states “represents the most significant front-of-shirt agreement in [the] Club’s history”.
As part of its first such deal in English football, BetBright hopes the fan focussed approach it is to adopt will pay dividends.
This is to see digital entertainment and sports betting firm agree to change its colourful logo to an all-white version, “in the knowledge that the Garibaldi Red shirt is of the utmost importance to supporters”.
Sarne Lightman, Managing Director at BetBright, explained: “BetBright is thrilled that our first shirt agreement is with a Club as iconic as Nottingham Forest and whose aspirations are so closely aligned to our own.
“As Forest are committed to continually improving for their fans, BetBright is committed to continually improving for its users.
“We have built our own proprietary technology, driven by innovation, allowing us to provide a unique and ever-improving sports betting experience for our customers.
“Like Forest, our goal is to be a Premier League brand in the next 12 months and we are very excited that our brands can take this journey together.”
