Zepf (2008) has written her dissertation on the use of sponsorship as a marketing and change management tool. Parties enter into a sponsorship agreement to meet certain goals and objectives. Exposure, publicity and an enhanced brand recall are important elements. Barclays sponsoring the British Premium League has provided it with an enormous marketing opportunity and the name Barclays is mentioned whenever the British Premier League is discussed. The bank in turn has used the association to drive its business and its identity as a modern bank that is in line with people expectations. This relation has worked very well for the bank. In the case of STC and MU, the sponsorship needs some more analysis and criticism. Football is not the national game of Saudi Arabia.

The game is played in limited areas in India, Pakistan and other nations. In these nations, cricket is the main game that enjoys immense popularity. For a sponsorship to be used as a marketing tool there should be a mass popularity for the sport. As an example, sponsoring the Professional Golf Association championship provides limited marketing opportunity since very few people play golf. However, sponsoring mass based sports such as football or cricket provides a very good branding opportunity.

The gap in the literature in this case is the lack of literature available for the unique case of STC sponsoring a UK based football club. It is difficult to evaluate the advantages that STC would gain considering that it is one of the many brands associated with MU. Crimmins (1996) suggested that fans who follow an event with passion show gratitude towards a sponsor. This attitude could help the sponsor immensely. The research on such sponsorship effects has focused on awareness and image and not on the purchase intention. Besides, the goal of STC is not to increase revenue but to increase the following for football in Saudi Arabia. The goal of STC is to promote its brand and associate it with a strong and popular brand like Man United. This intention further complicates the matter as it becomes difficult to quantify the level of success.