Bookmaker puts $2m on Broncos
Chris Barrett
February 17, 2011
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/bookmaker-puts-2m-on-broncos-20110216-1awm3.html
THE Broncos landed another blow in the Battle for Brisbane yesterday, announcing a $2 million sponsorship alliance with corporate bookmaker Sportingbet just days after a rival agency signed on as the major backer of the consortium bidding for a second team in the city.
The Broncos' deal is being promoted as the most lucrative yet in a summer marked by a succession of agreements between NRL clubs and gambling companies. At a value understood to be $2 million over three years, the sponsorship is worth more than Penrith's stadium-rights agreement with Centrebet, the first of its kind in Australian sport.
Sportingbet's upgraded link with the Broncos gives them brand space on the top back panel of the players' jumpers, proof Brisbane have lost little of their marketplace dominance.
Advertisement: Story continues below
It also pitches the budding rivalry between the Broncos and a potential second NRL club in the city as a parallel battle of bookmakers.
The bid team campaigning for the inclusion of another Brisbane side will hold its launch at Suncorp Stadium on Monday. Run by prominent Thoroughbreds member Craig Davison, it will announce several partnerships with corporate heavy-weights. Centrebet is one of them and has ambitions beyond sponsorship, aiming to be a part-owner of a new Brisbane team.
The company's media director, Neil Evans, said he was not surprised by the Broncos' move.
''[They] would be very protective of their ground and maybe just a little bit paranoid as well,'' he said. ''If there's a challenge on I welcome it.''