Standard Chartered Eyed in £15M Liverpool F.C. Sponsor Deal

Standard Chartered is a candidate to replace Carlsberg as lead sponsor of Liverpool F.C. for the price of £15 million a year, according to the Daily Mail. That's almost twice what the brewer pays, £7.5 million.

Such a deal would fulfill one prediction by BNET -- that a Liverpool sponsorship is worth a lot more than £7.5 million -- and belie another, that the club would stick with Carlsberg. The report is thin on details, and describes Standard Chartered only as "the leading candidates for the Liverpool kit." It does not say the pair are in talks.

Pre-contract rumors are common. Before Manchester United signed Aon for £20 million a year, the club was linked to Sahara Group and Saudi Telecom. So the leak of interest from Standard Chartered could merely be a negotiating tactic by Liverpool to pressure Carlsberg into renewing at a higher price.

The Liverpool sponsorship is a uniquely difficult one. Because of the Hillsborough disaster, any advertiser linking with Liverpool faces a de facto ban on advertising in The Sun, the largest-circ newspaper in the U.K. The Sun is boycotted by Liverpool fans -- its sales in the city have never recovered -- because of the scandalous coverage it gave to the deaths of 96 fans at the Hillsborough stadium.

Indeed, LFC fan are currently complaining that Carlsberg advertises at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium, where the deaths occured 20 years ago.

As you can see by this thread, Liverpool fans have their own ideas about who should be the new sponsor (Apple is one of them), and they won't be shedding too many tears if Carlsberg loses the contract.

Disclosure: Author is a Liverpool supporter.

• Previously
• Carlsberg Confirms Talks With Liverpool on £7.5M Sponsor Pact
• Q&A: Inside the Ad Boycott of Fox Host Steven Cohen
• Fox Axes Host in Ad Boycott Over Soccer Stadium Deaths
• Chelsea F.C. Disowns Fox Host in Ad Boycott
• Is Chelsea's New Sponsor Deal With Samsung Big Enough to Affect Its Debts?
• Arsenal's £100M Sponsorship Deal With Emirates No Longer Looks Like a Good Deal
• Will Death of Ex-Saatchi CEO Dreyfus Lift Curse of Marseille?
• Liverpool F.C. Seek £80 Mil. Deal With Carlsberg, But the Brewer May Not Easily Be Replaced
• Manchester United Sign Aon to Replace AIG as Shirt Sponsor; Club Returns to Profitability
• Q&A: Fox's Steven Cohen on the Advertiser Boycott Over His Remarks on Soccer Stadium Deaths
• Fox Host Lambasts Sponsors for Abandoning Show After Remarks on Soccer Stadium Deaths
• Fox Host Says Advertiser Boycott Over Remarks About Soccer Fan Deaths Has Hurt His Show