The European Sponsorship Association (ESA) has welcomed news suggesting that the alcohol sponsorship sector is safe from further UK government restriction for the foreseeable future.
ESA was commenting on a report in Sportbusiness.com’s sister e-publication BritSport Weekly, in which the UK drinks industry lobby group, the Portman Group, said both the Labour and Conservative parties are more concerned with the availability of harmful types of drink and cut-price drinks promotions than with alcohol industry sports sponsorship.
Helen Day, ESA’s head of European policy, said, “Sponsorship can offer many advantages to sports clubs and cultural groups and, with the industry so well self-regulated and alcohol companies being responsible, society can receive many benefits from their support.”
Day added that ESA supported the Portman Group’s view, aired in BritSport Weekly that medical conclusions reached in a survey released last week, were flawed. “The research by Manchester University and the University of Newcastle (in Australia) did not cover or link the sports sponsorship industry in the UK and was based solely on a small number of participants in New Zealand,” said Day.
According to ESA, the European Commission is looking to the Association ‘to present a balanced view of the alcohol industry and provide material to show how businesses benefit and are supported by these sponsorship partnerships’.
To that end, ESA is currently surveying rights holders in the sports and cultural sectors to gain detailed feedback about the relationship between alcohol sponsorship and the staging of events. “The results will be shared with the EC and will help to ensure balanced decisions are made for the future of the sponsorship industry,” said Day.
ESA represents the sponsorship industry throughout Europe and is a member of the EC Alcohol and Health Forum. In addition to having sponsor members, ESA represents many rights holders in sport and culture, who are recipients of alcohol sponsorship, so has a special role in representing both sites of the sponsorship equation.
