KEY POINTS:
English cricket yesterday started a search for a new sponsor after Vodafone ended its 12-year link with the game.
The company's decision not to renew its agreement when the present deal ends in early 2010 will cost the England and Wales Cricket Board 4 million ($11 million) a year unless it can find a replacement.
Although the mobile phone company's withdrawal was widely predicted, it could not have come at a worse time, as corporate sponsorship of all sports has been affected by the credit crunch.
At the very least the ECB may be forced to negotiate a shorter-term deal and may struggle to find a high profile name, especially if England lose the Ashes next summer. But it will baulk at reducing the 4 million-a-year asking price.
Vodafone has become almost synonymous with the England team.
ECB commercial director John Perera said yesterday: "We understand these are challenging times and it could take three to six months to reach agreement with a new partner.
"This is perhaps the flagship of all our sponsorship deals and when you consider that the England team is playing for 100 days a year and on duty for about 250 that is an awful lot of product, if you like."
Brand identity, as well as the money, will be an important criterion.
The ECB will start with a clean sheet but something like a consumer electrical goods company may be high on its wish list.
It will be hoping that the other two of its main sponsors, Npower and NatWest, who sponsor the home test and one-day series respectively, will renew their deals when they run out next year.
The ECB is insulated to a large degree by the TV rights deals it negotiated this summer with Sky, worth 300 million over four years.
Broadcast contracts make up 80 per cent of the board's income.
They might have signed at a good time. Speculation is growing in India that ESS - a partnership between ESPN and Star Sports - which paid US$900 million for rights to the Twenty20 Champions League are unhappy about the vast outlay both because of the state of the advertising market and the fact that the competition has been postponed.
- INDEPENDENT
