8th July, 2016

bet365 and Nissan to be new sponsors of Sky Sports' Premier League coverage

Sky Sports has announced major new sponsors for its Premier League coverage in the UK and Ireland ahead of the launch of its biggest ever season on 13th August.

The opening weekend also offers coverage of Manchester United's match at Bournemouth, Arsenal versus Liverpool in the first big head-to-head of the season and Chelsea at home to West Ham United. The first ever Friday Night Football will be in the second week of the season, as Manchester United fans welcome José Mourinho to Old Trafford for their home fixture against Southampton.

With 126 live Premier League games in the UK, Sky Sports is offering customers even more of the biggest matches and three times that of any other provider.

Between them, bet365 and Nissan will be sponsoring all Sky's live Premier League games each season. bet365 will be the exclusive sponsor of the iconic Monday Night Football programme as well as coverage of Sky's Friday night games. This is the first season Premier League games will be shown regularly on a Friday night. Furthermore, bet365 will sponsor all the Premier League games shown on the dedicated Sky Sports channel available in over 40,000 commercial premises across the UK and Ireland, including pubs, bars, hotels and clubs.

Nissan will be the exclusive weekend sponsor of Sky Sports' Premier League action. This includes every game shown on Saturday lunchtime as well as all the games that form Sky's Super Sundays shows. In the Republic of Ireland, this also means games broadcast on Saturday at 3.00pm.

In addition to live TV, Nissan will be the sole sponsor of all the Premier League previews, reviews, editorial articles, stats, facts and figures on Sky Sports.com. Sky Sports boasts a position as the number one digital destination for sport in the UK - in 2015, online video views increased by approximately 175%.

Sky Sports has announced its line-up of fixtures for the first two months of what is set to be one of the most exciting seasons in years. Leicester City will kick off the new Premier League season versus Hull City as part of a schedule that features every club by the end of September.

The new sponsorships were negotiated by Sky Media, the advertising sales division of Sky, with Manning Gottlieb OMD acting for Nissan and with Drummond Central and Republic of Media working for bet365.

John Coates, Joint Group Chief Executive, bet365, commented: "In what promises to be one of the biggest ever seasons in the Premier League, this new opportunity with Sky Sports is big news all round. It's certainly a fitting collaboration and is testament to bet365's continued and expanding relationship with Sky Sports".

Chris Marsh, Marketing Director, Nissan GB, was equally upbeat: "Innovation and excitement are at the heart of what we do at Nissan, and as we saw last season the unexpected nature of the Premier League makes it one of the most exciting football leagues in the world. This coming season is sure to be one of the most hotly-anticipated in years. Sky Sports offers customers more of the biggest, most exciting games than other providers. It's just one of the reasons why this partnership is such a perfect match for Nissan".

John Litster, MD, Sky Media, put the new deals in context: "It is fantastic that bet365 and Nissan are joining us for what is the biggest Premier League season in Sky Sports' history. We will be showing more Premier League games than ever with our unrivalled production and analysis from award-winning commentators and pundits. The Premier League is a major part of Sky Sports' choice of unmissable domestic and international sport across seven channels as well as digital and mobile platforms".

Tim Pearson, CEO, Manning Gottlieb OMD added: "Nissan's inherently innovative character makes for a perfect partnership with Sky's coverage of the Premier League, and we look forward to seeing Nissan take centre stage in bringing the world's most exciting League to fans throughout the UK and Ireland".

In a joint statement, Julie Drummond, CEO of Drummond Central, and Stuart Feather, Joint MD of Republic of Media commented: "We've been working closely with the team at Sky Media over several years to establish and secure complementary commercial opportunities for bet365 and the EPL was always at the top of our list. We're all looking forward to being part of Sky’s biggest ever season bringing more games on more days to bet365’s core customers".

Note: many more news items are archived on our desktop website.