English football sponsorship
Corporate sponsorship of major English football competitions dates back to the early 1980s, although minor competitions such as the Watney Cup and Texaco Cup were sponsored during the early 1970s. Sponsorship deals The first tournament for English Football League clubs to sell its naming rights was the Watney Cup, sponsored by brewer Watney Mann which was played from 1970 to 1973. The 1970-71 season saw the Ford Sporting League, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, take place for the first and only time, and also the start of the Texaco Cup (sponsored by Texaco) which was played until 1975. The first major English competition to negotiate a sponsorship deal was the League Cup, negotiating a £2 million deal in 1982 with the National Dairy Council. It became known as the "Milk Cup" and has since adopted the name of its sponsors in this same way. The following season in 1983 the Football League negotiated a sponsorship deal with Canon worth £3.3 million over 3 years. Cardiff City became the first second division club to sign a sponsorship deal and carried the “SuperTed” flash which became an iconic collectors item and replica shirts are still sold to this day. Since the