Park's Motor Group and cinch at centre of £8m Scottish football sponsorship spat

Car retailers Park's Motor Group and cinch are at the centre of an £8 million Scottish Football sponsorship spat involving Rangers FC.

The Daily Record newspaper has reported that the 2020/21 Scottish Premiership champions are refusing to advertise BCA’s consumer-facing online car retail brand on its shirts or inside its Ibrox stadium due to a conflict with the Parks Motor Group business of its chairman, Douglas Park.

But the situation has sparked urgent talks amid fears that the “increasingly bitter stand-off” could jeopardise the five-year, £8m cinch sponsorship deal which should benefit teams across the league.

The Scottish Daily Record reported that league chairman Murdoch MacLennan has now written to all clubs to confirm that the dispute is being treated as a matter of urgency.

In his letter MacLennan described the deal with cinch as being “by value, the biggest single sponsorship deal in the 131-year history of the league”.

He added: “It is therefore very disappointing that one of our clubs has not felt able to deliver inventory to cinch.

“Your board will be discussing this situation later this week. I will of course be in touch thereafter to give you a further update.”

Announced back in June, cinch’s deal with Scottish football saw Scotland’s professional football leagues rebranded as the cinch Premiership, cinch Championship, cinch League 1 and cinch League 2.

It also resulted in cinch becoming the League’s Official Car Partner, with the company’s logo incorporated into the League’s composite logo which appears on every player’s sleeve.

Cinch’s Scottish Football sponsorship deal is one of several designed to boost the profile of the online used car retailer over the past 12 months, including shirt sleeve sponsorship of Premier League Tottenham Hotspur.

It also sponsored England Cricket, the LTA’s Queen Club Championships and the Northampton Saints rugby team earlier this year.

The AM100’s Park’s Motor Group was founded in 1971 and represents 26 manufacturers across Scotland.