Barclays bank has begun a review of its worldwide sponsorships, including a $US100 million ($NZ171.40 million) deal with England's Premier League that expires in 2010.
Britain's third largest bank has held naming rights to what is arguably football's most popular national competition since 2001. Barclays also has sponsorships in golf, rugby and tennis.
Barclays has been hit by the global credit crisis along with other banks. Its current three-year, Stg65 million ($NZ172.96 million) agreement with the Premier League ends after the 2009-10 season.
Libby Chambers, Barclays' global retail and commercial banking chief marketing officer, said the company was "very happy" with its Premier League sponsorship but that the review will include all of its sponsorship agreements.
"We always closely evaluate them to ensure they continue to provide value to our business," she said in a statement.
"We are only halfway through our current sponsorship which runs well into 2010 and therefore have not started discussions about renewal."
The bank agreed in June to sponsor the ATP's season-ending tennis championship at about $US7 million per year for the next five years. The tournament is moving from Shanghai to London in 2009. Barclays also sponsors golf's Scottish Open and Singapore Open, the Dubai Championships tennis tournament and rugby's Churchill Cup.
But British banks are in trouble and Barclays' shareholders last month voted in favor of a plan to raise Stg7 billion ($NZ18.62 billion) and give Middle Eastern investors a 32% stake. By raising the money from investors in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, Barclays snubbed a British government bailout plan for the industry.
The Premier League, though, got a sign that it may not struggle to attract sponsors when the Football League announced that Molson Coors Brewing Co. had agreed to a new three-year agreement to secure naming rights to the League Cup.
The tournament, which is less prestigious than the Premier League or FA Cup, will be called the Carling Cup until the end of the 2011-12 season.
"This is excellent news and a further boost to a competition that is currently in its best shape for many seasons," Football League chairman Brian Mahwinney said.
"Considering the prevailing economic climate, it is extremely heartening to have the continued support of a widely respected brand like Carling."
