I agree. I think the last major club* to hold out from shirt sponsorship was Barcelona. They vowed never to have one ever. This lasted until 2006 when they had the charity UNICEF on their shirts. This wasn't done for revenue though as Barca donated money to the charity. They've recently sold out though and are now sponsored by Qatar Airways and from next season they have a £200 m four year deal with a Chinese internet shopping company. *I've just had a quick look and quite a few Italian clubs including Roma, Lazio, Torino, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Palermo and Genoa don't have sponsors. http://www.kitbag.com/stores/kitbag/en/c/football/football-kits/european-clubs/serie-a-(italy)
The Roman clubs have struggled to find shirt sponsors for years, and not for want of trying, there is no moral objection. Serie A isn't the thing it was 10 years ago let alone 25 when it was the best league in the world. Just shows that, in good investment advice fashion, leagues can go down as well as up. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the PL to collapse in commercial popularity. Sky pumping cash into Germany now, so expect a thing of beauty (excepting Bayern and Leipzig) to be ruined soon.
I don't think Sky will ruin The Bundesliga as much as they have here due to the fans and the 50 plus one rule. Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg being the exceptions. Not sure about the situation with Leipzig. Do the fans still own 51% or have they handed all control over to Red Bull? There are also quite a few of Spanish La Liga teams without sponsorship. I don't know if that's for the want of trying or if it's a correlation along with the Italian's of both nations struggling financially.
Bayer and Wolfsburg were originally works teams and the towns are still dominated by the corporations which own the clubs. Red Bull searched around trying to buy an established German team for years, and a succession - including St Pauli and Munich 1860 - turned them down. So then they turned to a town which had a top class stadium and set up their own club, buying the rights to enter a league from another failing local club. As far as I know they have no other links with Leipzig. Good article on the history of shirt sponsorship https://footballpink.net/2015/10/22/5475/
Nike are notorious for doing several unethical things, whether it's not paying fair taxes, not paying employees well at all, terrible conditions for workers, pollution, etc. I don't tend to wear trainers. I tend to wear skate shoes and there are several more ethical skate brands. I also try to avoid using animal skin shoes. Check here: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethical-company-ratings/nike-ethical-company-ratings.aspx
Red Bull are bypassing the 50 + 1 rule. They bought a club in the German League, naming them RasenBallsport Leipzig, so they can use their initials RB Leipzig. Their members are few and all employed by the Red Bull group. The reason why they are so few is simply because they have set the membership fee ridiculously high compared to other clubs. The reason behind the hate in Germany is easy to understand as they are nothing more than an artificial club.
Agreed .... The New South Wales rugby league State of Origin team were known as the Tooheys Blue team ( sponsored by a NSW brewing company ) but in their wisdom they decided to let a Victorian company beer 'VB' be plastered all over the front of the jersey. That's like letting a Vauxhall representative wear a Ford shirt. Not a good look but obviously not bad enough to reject the dollars. It's one of the main reasons l don't wear it out and about ...... well, that and because l live in Queensland.
