RANGERS have been excused from a new SPFL sponsorship deal with cinch following their refusal to showcase the used car company’s branding last season.
The Ibrox club were adamant they did not have to promote the sponsor’s advertising due to a contractual conflict of interest with chairman Douglas Park's own company, Park's Motor Group.
Over the course of last season, Rangers did not use cinch branding during their home matches or during interviews post-match on television.
The SPFL have now confirmed that they have extended their deal with cinch for the new season, but Rangers are no longer contractually obliged to participate.
Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPFL, said: “Under the terms of the revised cinch contract, Rangers are no longer required to participate by providing the sponsorship inventory that they have so far not provided, whilst, crucially, the overall income to Scottish football is expected to remain materially unchanged over the original five-year term of the sponsorship.
“This revised package has now been approved by cinch Premiership Clubs.
“It’s extremely good news that we have been able to work with our partners at cinch to develop an updated sponsorship package which delivers the same level of financial support to Scottish football, whilst providing additional SPFL media assets to cinch to compensate for loss of Rangers related rights.
“It is testament to the strength of our relationship with cinch, and the high value they place on it, that they have agreed to move forward with us on this basis.
“This deal gives us further confidence that we will exceed our budget and deliver fees to Clubs of more than £27.5 million for Season 2021/22.”
Murdoch MacLennan, chairman of the SPFL, added: “This is a great outcome for the entire game in Scotland. Our friends at cinch have been brilliant to deal with throughout this whole process.
“There is so much to celebrate in the SPFL as cinch and our clubs look forward with excitement to the launch of the 2022/23 fixture list this Friday.”
A spokesman for cinch said: “We welcome the evolution of our agreement with the SPFL and are proud of our continued investment into Scottish football across all four cinch SPFL leagues. We are very much looking forward to next season and to continuing the stellar growth of our business in Scotland.”
