Football Federation Australia and Netball Australia are among a dozen Australian sports who will reject alcophol sponsorships in return for an estimated $24 million in federal government funding.
The Australian newspaper says the deal will be announced Saturday. The deal with Australian National Preventative Health agency ANPHA sees the health agency assume the alcohol sponsorship of the FFA and Netball Australia along with an another 10 sports.
Soccer and netball are expected to reap a significant windfall from the deal, while smaller sports will earn only a few hundred thousand. The paper reported FFA’s cut as $1m per year, which was down significantly on their claims to up to $7.5m.
The deal with the FFA is expected to force A-League club Adelaide United to sever its ties with South Australian brewer Coopers, the paper says.
It is understood Adelaide United has warned FFA chief executive Ben Buckley the club might seek compensation if it was forced to drop the Coopers sponsorship. But an Adelaide United source said the club would accept such a move for the good of the league. FFA sources confirmed the announcement would take place today but would not expand.
The sports are to promote responsible drinking and will not be allowed to have alcohol sponsorship. Alcohol sales at grounds will not be affected.
ANPHA was formed by the federal government last year and has been charged with promoting healthy lifestyles, and focuses on key areas such as reducing smoking and alcohol consumption.
The sports are understood to have been approached by ANPHA because of their low level of existing alcohol ties, high national profiles and high levels of community participation.
The decision by the FFA and other sports to look at banning alcohol sponsorship in return for federal funding has sparked fears about the impact on other sports and their ties with alcohol sponsors. There have been concerns sports seeking TV coverage may struggle to sell rights because of the difficulty in broadcasters being able to attract alcohol advertising.
There are also fears the sports signing up for the deal could be used by anti-alcohol groups as a way to put pressure on the government to extend bans.
Last week the AFL announced a 10-year extension of their deal with Carlton United Brewers.
