Ladbrokes has been announced as the successors to Tetley’s as sponsor of the Rugby League Challenge Cup, which will be known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.
The Ladbrokes Challenge Cup kicks-off at the end of this month and culminates in the Grand Final scheduled to take place at Wembley Stadium on 29 August.
Challenge Cup fixtures are broadcast across Sky Sports and BBC. Last year’s final reached a cumulative audience of over 7.2 million, with the sport’s governing body the Rugby Football League (RFL) estimating Ladbrokes to benefit from more than 1,000 hours of dedicated global TV coverage over the course of the contract.
Ladbrokes will work closely with RFL players and personalities in various sponsorship activation initiatives and will also launch the tournament’s inaugural Ladbrokes Player of the Round Award and will also introduce a responsible gambling initiative for RFL rugby clubs, players, supporters and staff, in an effort to curve potential problem gambling issues.
The deal is for three years and reported to be worth around £1m a year.
“I am delighted to announce a three-year partnership that will see the sport’s oldest and most prestigious competition become the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup,” said RFL commercial Director Chris Rawlings
Outgoing Ladbrokes CEO Richard Glynn also commented on the recent growth in the sport, saying, “This exclusive deal will bring Ladbrokes unprecedented access to the action, which all of our customers have become accustomed to as part of The Ladbrokes Life.”
“2015 already promises to be bigger and better, and this is a fantastic opportunity for Ladbrokes to engage with Rugby League stakeholders on both an elite and grassroots level to continue the rapid growth of the sport,” Glynn added.
The announcement of the deal comes after William Hill replaced Ladbrokes as the sponsor of the PDC World Darts Championship.
Ladbrokes had been a sponsor of the darts annual event since 2003 but the contract renegotiations broke down after the operator was unwilling to meet the organizer’s increased asking price.
