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Luton Town mark long-awaited top flight appearance with biggest ever sponsorship deal
Newly-promoted English Premier League side Luton Town has continued its strong bond with British energy supplier Utilita, confirming them as its front shirt sponsor for the 2023/24 season.
The deal will allow Utilita to feature on the front of all three of the Hatters’ playing shirts.
Under the arrangement Utilita, with its charity arm Utilita Giving, they have also committed to donating around $4 AUD to local charities for every hatters shirt sold. This will likely lead to major donations to local groups such as Luton Foodbank.
Utilita is the UK’s leading Smart Pay As You Go Energy Supplier serving over 800,000 customers. Their speciality is pay as you go metering and they were the first company in the UK to do so in 2003.
Utilita has a long history of sponsoring English football sides and has had a relationship with the Hatters since 2015 when the two joined as partners. The relationship was elevated in February 2022 when the Hatters made Utilita their front of shirt sponsor.
In announcing the new deal Luton Town CEO Gary Sweet spoke of the loyalty and alignment between the two partners.
“Loyal relationships in the world of football business can often be difficult to find and then preserve, so we are immensely proud to announce this agreement which will also aid three charities who undertake magnificent support to those in need in our local community,” he said via press release.
“While this represents a landmark shirt sponsorship deal in our long history, we feel it is important to recognise the strength of the relationship we have fostered together with Utilita over the past eight years.
“Therefore, it gives us great pleasure in knowing that a partnership – which began in League Two – will continue in the top-flight next season.”
Jem Maidment, Chief Marketing Officer at Utilita, spoke of their pleasure at sponsoring the new Premier League side emphasising the journey between the two since 2015.
“Luton and Utilita have forged a terrific relationship over the past few years. Both have challenged the status quo, faced adversity, and got stronger with each passing year,” they added via press release.
“Back in 2015 Luton were in League Two, and Utilita had 150,000 customers. Now Luton are in the Premier League and Utilita are one of Britain’s leading energy suppliers, with more than 800,000 customers and rising.
“The Hatters’ journey over the past ten years to the Premier League is possibly the greatest football story of the 21st Century. We consider it an absolute privilege to have our logo on the famous orange shirt as we continue our journey together into a fantastic new era in the club’s history.
“I’m also delighted that Utilita Giving will be working with the club to support households in fuel and food poverty, as we ramp up our commitment to help those that need it most in Luton and the surrounding area.”
This season will mark Luton Town’s first in the top flight since 1991/92 and it is great to see the club maintaining its loyalty and connecting with the sponsors who’ve helped its meteoric rise from non-league football to the Premier League.
The connection with charities and the community focus of Utilita in providing affordable energy access will also be met with applause from fans as many are feeling cost of living pressures.
This new deal is not only a huge win for the community club but also another win for the Luton community who now know they not only have a Premier League side in their town but also one that even with success won’t forget the community who raised it.
South Melbourne versus Melbourne Victory is more than a long-awaited rivalry. It is an opportunity to unite Australian football around its history – and its future.
On 10 October, South Melbourne FC and Melbourne Victory will walk onto AAMI Park for an Australia Cup Final that represents far more than a trophy.
It brings together two proud clubs from different chapters of Australian football’s history.
One is among the most successful clubs of the former National Soccer League era. The other has become one of the defining clubs of the A-League era.
The atmosphere will be extraordinary. The rivalry will be genuine. The football will be fiercely contested.
Such is the anticipation surrounding the match that it also has genuine potential to break the modern Australia Cup Final attendance record of 18,751, set at the same venue in 2016.
That would represent much more than a number on a crowd sheet. A record attendance would send a powerful message about the public appetite for meaningful fixtures, authentic rivalries and competitions that connect every level of Australian football.
But this final can – and should – mean even more.
It presents Australian football with an opportunity to bring its past, present and future together.
It is an opportunity to dismantle the tired and damaging distinction between “old soccer” and “new football”.
Most importantly, it can demonstrate what becomes possible when the entire game is connected.
We Cannot Build the Future by Discarding the Past
Australian football needed reform at the beginning of this century.
The game required stronger governance, greater professionalism, better commercial structures and a national competition capable of reaching new audiences.
The establishment of the A-League in 2005 opened an important new chapter. It created clubs, rivalries and major occasions that have contributed enormously to the development of the professional game.
But somewhere during that transformation, the idea took hold that Australian football could only move forward by separating itself from much of what had come before it.
The labels “old soccer” and “new football” became a fault line.
Too many clubs, supporters, volunteers and communities that had carried the game for decades were made to feel that their history was no longer welcome at the top table.
In creating something new, the game sometimes appeared determined to dispense with everything associated with its past.
That included the clubs and development pathways that identified, nurtured and produced many members of Australia’s Golden Generation.
Australian football should never be embarrassed by that history.
It is one of our game’s greatest competitive advantages.
Traditional clubs were built by migrant communities that brought their passion, culture and football knowledge to Australia.
They established clubs, built grounds, developed players, created lifelong supporters and sustained the game when it received little mainstream attention or investment.
These communities did not merely support Australian football.
They built it.
Recognising that contribution does not require us to reject the progress made during the A-League era. Both can be true.
The game needed to evolve, but it did not need to marginalise its foundations to do so.
This Is Not “Old” Against “New”
It would be easy to promote South Melbourne against Melbourne Victory as “old soccer” meeting “new football”.
It might create a convenient headline, but it would miss the greater significance of the occasion – and perpetuate a division the game must leave behind.
South Melbourne is not a relic from Australian football’s past.
It is a living and ambitious club with generations of supporters, a distinguished record of national success and an enduring role in developing players and representing its community.
Melbourne Victory is not separate from Australian football’s history.
It is another important chapter in it – a club that has built an enormous following, delivered some of the country’s most memorable sporting occasions and demonstrated the scale that professional football can achieve in Australia.
These clubs were created in different eras, but they belong to the same game.
The future of Australian football is neither “old” nor “new”.
It is one football.
Supporters Want a Connected Game
This final arrives at a time when the appetite for a properly connected football pyramid is becoming impossible to ignore.
Supporters want clubs to have something meaningful to aspire to.
They want success on the field to create opportunity.
They want to see a genuine connection between grassroots football, state competitions, traditional clubs, national competitions and the professional game.
A connected pyramid is about more than promotion and relegation.
It is about unlocking aspiration, investment, relevance and growth throughout the sport.
When clubs can see a pathway forward, they invest in facilities, coaching, academies, commercial capability and community engagement.
When supporters believe their club’s journey can lead somewhere, they become more deeply invested.
When local rivalries carry national consequences, new audiences, media attention and commercial partners follow.
That energy already exists throughout Australian football.
Our opportunity is to harness it.
The Platforms Are Demonstrating What Is Possible
The Australia Cup has repeatedly shown what can happen when clubs from every level are given the opportunity to compete on a national stage.
It connects the grassroots and professional game. It creates genuine jeopardy. It brings national attention to clubs, grounds and communities that rarely receive that level of exposure.
It also produces compelling stories that cannot be manufactured through marketing alone.
The Australian Championship represents another important step. It gives some of the country’s most historic and ambitious clubs a new national platform and creates a stronger bridge between state-based football and the professional game.
Neither competition should be viewed in isolation.
Together, the Australia Cup and Australian Championship can help reconnect the game, restore national relevance to important clubs and build momentum towards a more integrated competition structure.
They also demonstrate something commercially significant.
These communities are not simply part of football’s history. They are active audiences with passion, identity, purchasing power and an enduring commitment to their clubs.
When those communities are respected and properly engaged, they respond.
That creates value for broadcasters, commercial partners, governments and the wider professional game.
A Perspective Spanning Different Eras
My perspective has been shaped by experiencing Australian football across different clubs, competitions and eras.
I served as CEO of South Melbourne Soccer Club during one of the most successful periods in its history.
After leaving in 1997, I returned 12 months later for the 1998/99 season, when South secured its second consecutive national championship under Ange Postecoglou.
Nearly two decades later, in 2015, I returned to the professional game as CEO of Perth Glory in the A-League.
I subsequently joined Football Australia as a senior executive, where I played a key role in strengthening the Australia Cup as a national platform and developing the Australian Championship.
That journey has reinforced my belief that Australian football’s future will not be secured by choosing one part of its history over another. It will be secured by bringing the best of every era together.
The game will fulfil its potential when it connects its professional clubs, traditional clubs, grassroots participants, diverse communities and national teams within a coherent and ambitious system.
This is not about returning to the past.
It is about carrying the best of our history into a stronger future.
South Melbourne Soccer Club newsletter, 1997. After stepping down as CEO, Peter Filopoulos returned 12 months later for the club’s 1998/99 national championship season.
More Than a Final
On 10 October, AAMI Park – the spiritual home of football in Melbourne—should become the stage for more than an Australia Cup Final.
It should be a celebration of the people and communities that built the game, the progress achieved during the professional era and the possibilities presented by a connected future.
South Melbourne supporters should be proud of what their club has contributed to Australian football and excited about what may lie ahead.
Melbourne Victory supporters should celebrate what their club has built and the role it continues to play in growing the professional game.
Every Australian football supporter should be able to look at this occasion and see something bigger than a contest between two clubs or two eras.
This final is not “old soccer” against “new football”.
It is Australian football – proud of its entire history, united around its future and ready to unlock its true potential.
Kylian Mbappé’s decision to leave Nike after almost 20 years has opened a new chapter in the commercial battle for football’s biggest names. The Real Madrid and France star has joined Swiss sportswear brand On, a significant boon for the company on entry into the football market.
Mbappé’s departure is a significant commercial loss for Nike. The forward joined the company as a nine-year-old and grew into one of its leading football figures. His loss compounds the recent transition of Spanish star Lamine Yamal to long-time rival Adidas.
On built its reputation in running, before expanding into tennis via Roger Federer. It will now use Mbappé’s experience as it develops football products, with its first boots expected to become widely available in the near future. Former France star Thierry Henry has also joined On as its football director and is a shareholder.
On has confirmed that Mbappé’s agreement includes both cash and equity, although the financial details have not been released, gives the partnership a deeper commercial connection than a traditional endorsement deal. Nike still holds significant football contracts, including long-term partnership with numerous national teams.
However, Mbappé’s move gives On an opportunity to challenge the established order, including Nike, Adidas, Puma and other emerging competitors. But will they turn this prized signature into lasting football credibility? To do so, the brand must now deliver products that can compete on performance, design and price.
Mbappé’s switch is therefore more than a sponsorship change. It signals an increasingly competitive fight for football’s most influential athletes and the billions of fans who follow them.
