Football news 2: when dough meets doh! Chelsea's latest signing

News broke yesterday that a deal has been struck between one of the most enduring items of intellectual property of the past two decades -- The Simpsons -- and one of the current band of elite billionaire-owned football teams that have refocused their profit-making from on-field to off-field activities, Chelsea Football Club.  According to Metro:

Chelsea have announced a new collaboration with the cult television series adored by millions around the world which will see Springfield’s famous father and son, Bart and Homer, feature on a new range of merchandise at the Stamford Bridge club.

Five Chelsea players have been given The Simpsons' treatment to celebrate the partnership with Twentieth Century Fox with Petr Cech, Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard being animated along with Terry.

‘It’s great to see myself and the other players as Simpsons characters,’ said former England skipper Terry. ‘The Simpsons was and still is my favourite show, and is now my kids’ too. I can’t wait to see what Bart and Homer will look like as Chelsea players.’

Will Snowball II ever make
the Chelsea first team?

It is apparent that Chelsea/Simpsons merchandise will be sold in Chelsea FC merchandise outlets and through the club's online shopping emporium, though no other details of the arrangement have been disclosed.  This Kat would love to know a bit more about the terms of the deal, though.  He assumes that Chelsea are to pay for the privilege, that there will be suitable quality control provisions which will extend to the quality of the goods sold but not to the quality of the football itself, that The Simpsons will be entitled to make some use of the Chelsea brand and the names and images of its players and that -- given The Simpsons' gift for self-deprecatory humour -- the deal is not contingent on Chelsea continuing to succeed on the football pitch.  It would be great to know if there is an exclusivity clause, or whether The Simpsons can strike similar deals in order to tap new markets for consumers of memorabilia of other Premier League teams such as Manchester United or Liverpool.  Beyond the English Premier League, Simpson deals have already been struck with Barcelona, Boca Juniors and FC Zenit St Petersburg. However, details of these deals are not easy to come by.  It's also interesting to speculate as to whether any special provisions are in place to provide for the contingency that one Simpsons team is matched against another.

Merpel is pleased to see that there is at least one way in which the animation of Chelsea's footballers will not lead to them being sent off, suspended and fined a couple of week's pay ...

One Cat who has already played for Chelsea, here