CASE STUDY
Background
Camden Football Club is one of the great success stories in English football. Today, it is
third in the Premier Division (the top division) and has reached the quarter finals of the
European Champions League competition, which is held every year. They get huge
crowds at their ground and their Polish manager, Cristos Sroda, is idolized by their fans.
Camden is also a great commercial success and is very profitable.
What has brought about their success? Firstly, their manager Cristos had a clear
strategy for the team from the start. He developed young players who had come
through the club's youth training scheme. The team was also strengthened by one or
two carefully chosen foreign players.
The extraordinary commercial success of Camden is due to their Commercial Director,
Sophie Legrange. She greatly increased profits from the club's main business areas:
corporate hospitality, advertising, sponsorship and conferences and banqueting.
At the same time, she skillfully exploited the Camden brand and diversified into other
areas: a travel agency for fans and also for companies using the club's hospitality
facilities; a joint venture with an insurance agency to provide financial products for the
club's corporate clients; and finally, training courses in the club's conference rooms run
by local companies. Turnover increased by over 400% to £70m and profits leapt to
£15m. TV rights, soon to be renegotiated, will provide another very lucrative source of
income.
Current situation
Camden's current four-year sponsorship deal with an insurance company is about to
finish. Sophie Legrange is considering a new and better deal with United Media plc, the
powerful publishing, TV production and mobile phone group. It is not only the increased
money from sponsorship which appeals to Camden, however. United Media's broad
range of business activities would offer many other opportunities to increase revenue.
United Media are interested in Camden because the club's success has brought it over
4m fans in the UK and 40m in the Far East. Camden played a friendly match recently in
China which was watched live by a Chinese audience of over 250m.
Representatives of Camden and United Media are meeting shortly to discuss a possible
sponsorship deal. The following factors will influence the negotiation:
1. Because of their recent successes, Camden feel they are in a strong position to
negotiate a valuable four-year contract.
2. Some experts say Camden were lucky to win their last European Cup match, and
that they rely too much on their star South American player, Paolo Rosetti. Now aged
30, he has a poor discipline record and is rumoured to have marital and drink problems.
3. Sophie Legrange has full negotiating rights over sponsorship. She will only choose
United Media as a sponsor if she can negotiate a good deal for the club.
Task
If the negotiation was successful, write a press release from the point of view of
either Camden FC or United Media outlining the main points of the agreement
and the benefits to the organization you represent. The tone and style of the
message should express pleasure and optimism.
If the negotiation was unsuccessful, write a letter to your opposite number in the
negotiation expressing your regret that you were unable to make a deal.
However, you should indicate that you might be willing to reopen negotiations in
the future as clearly there could be areas of mutual benefits.
Letter and Press Release formats are below:
Letter Formats
Press Release Formats