AFL club Melbourne have taken little more than a fortnight to wipe away an unexpected sponsorship financial black hole, after announcing a deal with a German-based car maker on Sunday.
The new deal with Opel, which sells vehicles in more than 40 countries and will launch in Australia later this year, is only in place for the rest of this season.
But there is an option for an extension and Demons chief executive Cameron Schwab was confident it would develop into a long-term arrangement.
Opel, which will feature on the back of Melbourne’s guernseys, is the latest sponsor to sign on since the Demons were forced to cut ties with major sponsor EnergyWatch over a racism controversy in early April.
Within the past fortnight Melbourne have announced a deal with internet travel company Webjet, now on the front of their jumpers, followed by the signing of care hire company Hertz as a ball and coach sponsor.
Schwab said the combined deals effectively meant the Demons have not lost financially out of their decision to split with EnergyWatch after the company’s CEO posted racist comments on his Facebook page.
“It was a call based on the integrity of the club a couple of weeks ago,” Schwab said.
“The first question which would have been asked as a result of the decision we took was what impact that has financially.
“We can safely say we’ve commercially bridged that gap.”