Real Football Podcast: Episode 3, On Sponsorship and the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this episode, we explore the impact of sponsorship on football as a whole and the impact that globalized money from the Middle East has had on the club game. This includes the very humble beginnings of sponsorship on football shirts, a review of some of the classic kits to emerge in the era of sponsored shirts, which big club was slowest to embrace the monied culture of shirt sponsors, and where our presenters think the next source of large-scale sponsorship money will come from around the globe. Why Middle Eastern governments are so eager to jump on the football shirt sponsor wagon is dissected as are the impacts we have already seen. What else could happen because of it, and what the reaction is intended to be from the regime perspective? We also delve into the coronavirus cancelations, La Liga and Serie A’s potential solutions, Barcelona’s potential collapse, what occupation Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simione’s wardrobe reminds the show of, and what sort of unprecedented natural disaster would happen if Spurs won the league in the opinions of our hosts. Also, there are important historical lessons about the difference between a King and a Sultan.