Tottenham Hotspur’s main kit sponsor is Hong Kong-based insurance company AIA and has been for a long time, but Spurs have had different sponsors for their training and warm-up gear, currently Turkish grocery delivery company Getir. Now, according to an exclusive from Business Insider, it looks like starting next season that gear will be sponsored by betting company BetMGM.
As per @mattglen, looks like BetMGM could be coming on board as Spurs’ new training wear sponsors for next season once the Getir deal expires at the end of this campaign.
— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) April 30, 2024
Hold it, you’re saying, aren’t gambling companies soon to be prohibited from Premier League shirt sponsorships? You’re not wrong, so this is a little puzzling. The original Business Insider report is behind a paywall so there isn’t a lot we can glean at the moment. But it does make me wonder — the no-gambling sponsorships agreement is for match-day kits, so I’d guess that there’s a specific loophole for training and warm-up gear.
I don’t gamble, but a lot of people do. That’s fine, and good for you if that’s you, but I personally admit to being a little squeamish about my chosen club getting into bed with a gambling company for the first time since Mansion in 2008-09. I might just be a little oversensitive after watching American sports broadcasts get overrun by now-legal gambling ads, and I’m sure BetMGM outbid everyone else for the rights to put their logo on Spurs’ training gear, but this news still makes me grimace.
On the plus side, BetMGM has one of the nicer logos among gambling companies so in terms of style it could be worse I suppose. But I wish it hadn’t come to this.