Brit Insurance signs sponsorship package with Surrey Cricket Club

Surrey Cricket Club has signed Brit Insurance to sponsor its shirts and home ground in a deal that could be worth up to £1m a year.

Brit Insurance will replace Australian financial services company AMP, which made an embarrassing exit from its Surrey sponsorship deal after it was forced to withdraw from the UK last year (MW February 6, 2003).

AMP has been made to pay an exit penalty, as the company owes Surrey up to £700,000 for the two years left to run on its sponsorship contract. Surrey played cricket last season without a shirt sponsor.

Toby Coddington, corporate development manager at Surrey, says the deal is worth a basic £500,000 a year to the club, but adds the company is likely to match that with money to activate and promote the sponsorship.

As part of the deal, Surrey’s ground will be renamed “The Brit Oval”. Brit will also work with Surrey on its grassroots and children’s cricket programmes.

The deal is a welcome commercial boost for cricket, with even governing body England & Wales Cricket Board struggling to find sponsorship for flagship competitions such as the English National League. Surrey is one of the country’s most successful clubs, winning eight trophies in the past eight years.