第2834期:Sponsorship

Sporting events and organisations have long looked to sponsorship for a way of surviving. For many, without financial support of sponsors, they simply wouldn't be able to compete. We're talking about one particular area of concern in sponsorship.体育赛事和组织长期以来都依靠赞助来维持生存。对许多赛事而言，如果没有赞助商的资金支持，他们根本无法继续竞争。我们今天要谈的是赞助领域中的一个特别值得关注的问题。Yeah, now we both remember, Richard, the dominance of tobacco companies sponsoring major events, especially things like Formula One. Yes, the Marlborough McLaren cars, for instance. Yeah.是的，Richard，我们都还记得，以前烟草公司主导了大型赛事的赞助，尤其是像一级方程式赛车这样的赛事。没错，比如万宝路赞助的迈凯伦车队。Now, that's not allowed anymore. But there's a new industry taking over, isn't there? And that is gambling and betting. Betting companies take £14.4 billion from punters every year.如今，烟草赞助已经被禁止了。但现在有一个新的行业正在接手，不是吗？那就是博彩业。博彩公司每年从赌客那里获得高达144亿英镑的收入。In the UK. Yes, that is equal to about £200 from every man, woman and child. It's a huge amount.在英国，这相当于全国每个男人、女人和孩子各贡献了约200英镑。这是一个庞大的数字。Yeah. So why has this happened? How has it happened? And is it really such a bad thing? Well, I suppose it really, it goes back to 2005 and the government of the day then passed the Act and this dramatically relaxed many of the old restrictions. And as soon as they did that, the difference was just incredible.是啊，那为什么会出现这种情况？这是怎么发生的？真的有那么糟糕吗？嗯，我想这要追溯到2005年。当时的政府通过了一项法案，大幅放宽了旧有的限制。一旦法律放宽，整个行业的变化简直令人惊讶。How has it happened? Well, simply because gambling-related TV and radio advertising was banned up until 2005. And then since then, advertising has increased significantly. Yes.它是怎么发展的？其实很简单——在2005年之前，博彩类的电视和广播广告是被禁止的。但从那以后，广告数量显著增加。没错。By 2018, UK betting firms were spending £328 million on direct advertising alone. Yeah. And you're talking about adverts in the commercial breaks and sports programmes.到2018年，英国的博彩公司仅在直接广告上的支出就达到了3.28亿英镑。是的，那些广告主要出现在商业广告时段以及体育节目中。But what we're really talking about is live footballs on the TV. Oh yes. I mean, you know I love football.但我们真正要谈的是电视上播放的足球直播。哦，是的，你知道我多么喜欢足球。I watch the football match and there are adverts on betting before, during, after. It's just all betting. But Richard, you say about the adverts, OK, but it's not just the adverts, of course, it's what they're wearing.我看一场足球比赛，从赛前到中场再到赛后，全是博彩广告，几乎无处不在。但Richard，你刚才提到广告，其实不仅仅是广告问题，还有他们穿的球衣。It's blasted across the players' shirts, isn't it? They're all sponsored by betting companies. I think half of the Premier League shirts will have a gambling company's logo on it. Clubs in the Premier League stand to earn about £350 million from their shirt sponsors.球衣上全都印着博彩公司的名字，不是吗？几乎所有球队都由博彩公司赞助。我记得英超大约有一半球队的球衣上印着博彩公司的标志。英超俱乐部从球衣赞助中能赚取大约3.5亿英镑。And about £70 million of that comes from betting companies alone. Yeah. But not just the shirts, but all around the football pitch as well, the hoardings around the football pitch.其中大约7000万英镑来自博彩公司的赞助。是的。不仅是球衣，连球场四周的广告牌上也到处都是博彩公司的标志。The publicity for these gambling companies is in your face, isn't it? It's everywhere. Hmm. Research has shown that gambling, it can make people's lives a misery.这些博彩公司的宣传无孔不入，几乎扑面而来。是啊，研究表明，赌博可能会让人的生活陷入痛苦。Yes. And the problem nowadays is it's so easy. You know, in the old days, you used to have to go to the betting shop to place a bet.没错。现在的问题是赌博变得太容易了。以前你还得亲自去投注站下注。Now it's all on the mobile phone and everybody has a mobile phone so everybody can gamble. It's so easy. But the adverts, we go back to the adverts that they have, there's this real feeling of excitement and they give the perception that gambling is a fundamental part of watching the sport.而现在，一切都能通过手机完成。每个人都有手机，因此每个人都能随时赌博，太方便了。至于广告，它们总是营造一种极度兴奋的氛围，让人误以为“看体育比赛”就该伴随“下注”——仿佛赌博是体育观赛不可或缺的一部分。They're linking sport and watching the game so directly with gambling, it's like the two automatically go together. And actually, we've just heard that the club with the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the Premier League, Manchester United, they're not renewing the contract for their current sponsor. Hmm.他们把体育和赌博联系得如此紧密，以至于让人觉得两者天生就该绑在一起。而事实上，我们刚刚听说英超拥有最大球衣赞助合约的俱乐部——曼联——决定不再续约现任赞助商。嗯。Well, let's hope that their new sponsor is not going to be a betting company.希望他们的新赞助商不要再是博彩公司吧。