Sports equipment manufacturer Yonex has extended one of the oldest sponsorship deals in British sport by renewing its partnership with badminton’s All England championships.
Reuters reports that the new five-year deal runs until 2014, taking the total length of the sponsorship to 31 years, a record for same-name company sponsorship in Britain. Reuters says that badminton is one of the few sports worldwide to have escaped the “sponsorship meltdown”, but says Badminton England (BE) are taking a conservative outlook for the future.
“Our whole financial planning at the moment is modelled on not making assumptions about sponsorship and investment because we know it's going to be very, very tough," BE chief executive Adrian Christy is quoted as saying.
"Our aspirations are all around ensuring we don't dilute the quality of the program and we are being very cautious on our budgeting to ensure that we don't set targets that we actually can't deliver."
BE also has a five-year deal with holiday company Centre Parcs, which supports the England team and the country’s annual national schools championships.
