Sponsors pay money for their products and services to be advertised and made visible, and, with play suspended, the clubs locked-up, and the players forced to stay at home, they are seeing very little return on their investment right now.
In addition many sponsors come from industries which are already being very badly affected by the epidemic right now, such as airlines, tourism, hotels and restaurant chains. Many of these companies are struggling for their very survival at the moment, as evidenced by the fact that one of West Hams main sponsors, Basset & Gold, a financial services firm has gone bust, with the blame laid squarely at the door of the virus.
And for those that are trying to keep their head above water, one of the first items of discrepancy spend to be cut from budgets is marketing and promotion programmes.
This is likely to have a particularly big effect on those European clubs which top the rich list as compiled by Deloittes, the financial services firm. They calculate that for the top five classified as Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG, the income they receive from sponsorship accounts for 49% of all revenues (although this is distorted by PSG where the figure is much higher).
Lower down the Deloitte’s list the picture is somewhat different and for clubs like Everton, Lyon and West ham, the majority of their income (65%) comes from broadcasters.
Whilst there is a perceived value, for some marketers, to remaining loyal to long-term commercial partners, bottom-line imperatives may force many companies and brands to have a re-think.
And, on a broader level, any firms that were considering investing in football before the pandemic, are no willing, or able, to do so.