SPFL cashes in: William Hill to be Scottish league's new title sponsor in £10million record-breaking deal
- Bookmaker ready to replace cinch as title sponsor of the Scottish leagues
- Record deal is worth £2m per year to the league - up from £1.6m paid by cinch
The SPFL is poised to unveil William Hill as its new title sponsor in a record-breaking £10million deal.
Already agreed in principle by the clubs, the bookmaker is on the brink of signing the contract which will see them replace current sponsors cinch as of next season.
Mail Sport understands that the five-year package will be worth £2m per year to Scotland’s top four divisions — a significant uplift on the £1.6m cinch paid annually.
The league was put in a tight spot when cinch opted to exercise an exit clause in their deal earlier this season when it still had two years to run.
This followed a lengthy legal dispute between the SPFL and Rangers, which saw the Ibrox club refuse to promote the title sponsor.
William Hill were sponsors of the Scottish Cup back in 2017, when Brendan Rodgers triumphed
The bookmakers are now looking to renew their relationship with Scottish football
The early ending of the cinch deal, which began in 2021, put SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster under pressure to get a suitable replacement.
But it now appears that an agreement has been struck with William Hill, which will be of huge financial benefit to all 42 clubs. At the weekend, Doncaster hinted that a deal with an unnamed firm was close.
‘It’s never done until it’s done,’ he said. ‘It’s been a difficult market, but I would say Scottish football is in a very good place.
‘It’s a challenging sponsorship environment. Any of our 42 member clubs would tell you the same.
‘Cinch are coming out of the contract this summer and I am optimistic that we will have a replacement sponsor for the start of the new season.
‘I’m not going to tell you when. But I’m optimistic we will have a sponsor in place for next season.’
William Hill are no strangers to Scottish football having sponsored the Scottish Cup between 2011 and 2020.
They stepped in to strike an agreement with the SFA after they went four years without a deal for the tournament — ploughing around £1m-a-year into the game for almost a decade.
