With just two weeks to go before the Premier League season starts again, the marketing rush has well and truly begun. Sky Bet is the latest to get campaigns underway.
The Flutter Entertainment brand took its latest football campaign, ‘Games Gone’, live today, with familiar name ambassadors Roy Keane and Micah Richards featuring heavily.
The campaign takes a humorous approach to football fandom, perhaps taking some inspiration from the tongue-in-cheek style of marketing employed by fellow Flutter brand Paddy Power for many years.
A central theme of the campaign is the idea of change in football, playing on the phrase commonly uttered by football fans that ‘the game has gone’ due to new additions – VAR being a big point of contention in recent years, for example.
“Game’s Gone is a phrase that has engrained itself in football culture and beyond,” said Harry Philliips, Sky Bet Marketing Director.
“Yet even though we all love to moan about the game, it’s never been more universally popular and when push comes to shove, it’s the incredible moments of football culture, both on and off the pitch that keeps us coming back.
“We believe football always has and always will create moments no fan can resist. And at Sky Bet, we champion those iconic moments of football and fandom by giving our customers more ways to get in on the action.”
The campaign depicts former Manchester United and Ireland midfielder Keane and ex-Manchester City and Aston Villa right-back Richards travelling back in time to observe football throughout various eras.
This includes heading back to the Victorian era to see the modern game in its early form, and the changes that occurred to it – and the fans complaining about these at the time.
Keane said: “One thing about football history is that people have always questioned changes to the game, but it’s funny looking back at some of the things we’d never want to lose now.
“We had good fun bringing those moments to life.”
“Football fans love a debate and that’s never going to change,” said Richards.
Filming this was brilliant because we got to step into different eras of football and have a bit of fun with some of the biggest developments in the game’s history.
“Being told I had permission to ‘shush’ Roy Keane was a particular highlight!”
Sky Bet keeps its football focus
The 2026/27 Premier League season marks the first under a new and widely discussed rule for clubs and betting companies – the ban on front-of-shirt sponsorship activity.
A number of routes are still available to betting companies looking for visibility in top-flight football.
Logos can still be displayed on sleeves, on training kits, and on LED advertising boards, and various clubs have pressed ahead with these kinds of deals – Betway and Manchester United, for example.
Others have opted to sponsor clubs in the lower leagues, like the second-tier Championship;Midnite, Coral and BoyleSports are all part of this contingent, the latter maintaining its deal with West Ham United after the club suffered relegation from the Premier League last year.
With the new restrictions, however, the value of high-quality and well-thought out marketing campaigns may increase substantially.
Sky Bet’s Philipps summarises the brand’s role in football as “not to tell fans what to think, but to understand the conversation, earn the right to participate in it and celebrate the fact that, whatever the argument or discussion, football still keeps us coming back”.
The brand has a long history of sponsoring football, perhaps being most visible as a partner of the English Football League (EFL), comprising the Championship, third tier League One and fourth tier League Two.
It has increasingly been adding social responsibility and charity elements to this deal.
Off the pitch and on the TV screen, the ‘Games Gone’ campaign follows the “The World’s Gone Football” campaign from last season, which also involved Richards and Keane.
“‘The World’s Gone Football’ established a clear role for Sky Bet: celebrating the way football takes over people’s lives and becomes part of the wider cultural conversation,” Philiips remarked.
He continued: “Both campaigns use humour and nostalgia, but “Game’s Back” gives that approach a new twist by playfully challenging the idea that football’s best days are behind it.
“We are not trying to settle the debate or tell fans how to feel about changes to the game; we are simply adding an optimistic perspective to the conversation.
“The consistency comes from Sky Bet’s point of view. We are building a recognisable role within football culture, rather than repeating the same creative formula, while giving each campaign its own distinctive idea and moment.”
