Adelaide Football Club rings in new era, signing multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with telco giant

It’s the beginning of a new era at Crowland, as a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal rings in a very big change to the Adelaide Football Club’s jumper.

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The Adelaide Football Club has rung in a new era after signing a multimillion-dollar deal with telecommunications giant Optus.

The deal makes Optus the club’s new principal partner and will mean that for the first time in Crow’s 28-year-history, Toyota will no longer appear on the back of their guernsey.

Instead, the Optus logo will adorn the jumper’s back for at least the next four years.

Club chairman Rob Chapman declared it a momentous day and one that demonstrated not only the strength of the club, but the strong position South Australia was in to be able to attract sponsors of this nature.

Crows coach Don Pyke at Adelaide Oval for the announcement of the club’s new sponsor - Optus - which will feature on the back of the playing jumpers. Picture: Sarah Reed

The announcement comes a day after Toyota announced it was extending its major sponsorship of the Crows until the end of 2023.

But there’s no denying it’s the end of an era.

“Our fans will obviously see the difference because they’re used to seeing Toyota and Camry on the back of our guernseys since day one,” Mr Chapman said.

ANNOUNCEMENT: #Optus will become a Principal Partner of the Club for at least the next four years! https://t.co/YYWXQMuGGD #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/5SqVyOEVMS

— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) February 6, 2019

“(Toyota) have been a wonderful major partner and have been with us since day one.

“It’s wonderful to have big, mature, good organisations associated with your football club.”

Mr Chapman said the deal meant the Crows jumper had become one of the valuable in Australian sport and the significant sponsorship dollars would be injected into the club’s grassroots and community programs.

He said in particular, the Crows AFLW side had been instrumental in attracting Optus to the club.

“(CEO) Andrew Fagan and I knew how important and significant women’s football was going to be to the broader community … we’re getting corporates wanting to talk to us about (sponsorship) because of it.”

The announcement comes as the Crows prepare to release their financial statement at the end of the month.

📸 Coach Don Pyke, Ben White (Managing Director, Marketing & Product at Optus) and Chairman Rob Chapman at Adelaide Oval #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/bxPUwoCIVH

— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) February 6, 2019

“It’s a tough business and you can’t take anything for granted,” Mr Chapman said.

“Thankfully we are a big, strong club, but you have to fight tooth and nail every day of the week to make sure you stay a couple of inches ahead because it’s a fine margin.”

Optus managing director of marketing Ben White said the investment was not just about getting a logo on the guernsey, but about being able to support the club’s grassroots and community programs.

The Optus logo will also appear on the players’ shorts at both AFL and SANFL level, while from 2020 the logo will also be on AFLW shorts and all training uniforms.