EHF Marketing, the marketing arm and subsidiary of the European Handball Federation (EHF) has revealed that sponsorship income during the 2018-19 season peaked at more than €6m ($6.6m) for its men’s and women’s Champions League club competitions.
The EHF cited the addition of Nord Stream 2, which served as a premium sponsor for the men’s Champions League, and Delo Group, which title sponsored the women’s Final 4, as key factors.
In February, Delo Group also agreed a deal to become the first title sponsor of the women’s Champions League until the end of the 2020-21 season. The competition will officially be known as the Delo Women’s EHF Champions League as part of the agreement.
Media rights sales also reached an all-time high of almost €12.5m across the two Champions League competitions and the men’s second-tier EHF Cup.
EHF said the sponsorship and media income figures marked EHF Marketing’s best business year since the company was founded in 2005. After deducting costs, EHF Marketing pays out its net revenues according to an 80/20 share between clubs and the EHF.
The EHF claimed that a cumulative audience of more than half a billion people watched matches during the 2018-19 Champions League competitions. This led to the sponsorship value of the tournaments increasing by more than 20 per cent to €70m, the EHF said.
Additionally, engagement on the competitions’ social media channels more than doubled to a record 7.1 million, while Champions League content reached a combined number of 300 million views and impressions.
EHF and EHF Marketing will begin a long-term media and marketing deal with the Infront agency and digital media company DAZN Group on July 1, 2020.
Through that agreement, media and sponsorship rights to the EHF Champions League tournaments and men’s and women’s European Championships will be sold by Infront and DAZN, although Infront is expected to assume the lead on sponsorship sales.
EHF Marketing has sold sponsorship rights to the Champions League tournaments in house and media rights were previously sold by the MP & Silva agency. Having ended the contract with MP & Silva and taken the rights back, EHF Marketing has been selling the media rights in house and with SN1 Consulting, the Munich-based consultancy, working in an advisory capacity.