Pressure is mounting from campaigners to prohibit alcohol sponsorship of sport in a move that would remove a funding source worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
Following the precedent of the successful ban on tobacco sponsorship, alcohol is the next sponsorship category to come under scrutiny. In Australia the Prime Mininster’s National Preventative Health Task Force has called for a complete ban on alcohol sponsorship and last month The Commons Health Select Committee questioned Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, on the issue.
With a struggling alcohol industry supporting over half a million jobs and sport that is alcohol dependent, it is unlikely that moves will be made immediately but that pressure will continue to build.
