Conference National

Conference National
Country	England
Other participants	Wales
Founded	1979; (as Alliance Premier League)
Number of teams	24
Levels on pyramid	5; Step 1 (National League System)
Promotion to	League Two
Relegation to	Conference North; Conference South
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup; FA Trophy; Conference League Cup
Current champions	Mansfield Town; (2012–13)
TV partners	Premier Sports; Sky Sports
Website	Conference
	2012–13 Football Conference

Conference National (currently named the Blue Square Bet Premier for sponsorship reasons)^[1] is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. While all of the clubs in the top four tiers of English football are full-time professional, the Conference National has a mixture of full-time and semi-professional clubs. The Conference National is the lowest nationwide division in the English football pyramid.

History [edit]

Main article: Football Conference#History

The league was formed as the Alliance Premier League in 1979, coming into force for the 1979–80 season. It was the first attempt to create a fully national league underneath the Football League, drawing its clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League. It greatly improved the quality of football at this lower level, as well as improving the financial status of the top clubs. This was reflected in 1986–87, when the Football League began accepting direct promotion and relegation between the Conference (which the league had been renamed by then) and the bottom division of the Football League which at that time was known as the Football League Fourth Division and is now Football League Two. The first team to be promoted by this method was Scarborough and the first team relegated was Lincoln City, who regained their Football League status a year later as Conference champions.

The league's first sponsors were Gola, who sponsored it during the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons. When Gola's sponsorship ceased, carmaker Vauxhall Motors — the British subsidiary of American combine General Motors — took over and sponsored the league until the end of the 1997–98 season. The 1998–99 Conference campaign began without sponsors for the Conference, but just before the end of the season a sponsorship was agreed with Nationwide Building Society. This lasted until the end of the 2006–07 season, after which current sponsors Blue Square took over.

Since 2002–03, the league has been granted a second promotion place, with a play-off deciding who joins the champions in the Football League. Previously, no promotion from the Conference would occur if the winners did not have adequate stadium facilities. As of the start of the 2002–03 season, if a club achieves the automatic promotion or the play-off places but does not have an adequate stadium, their place will be re-allocated to the next highest placed club, that has the required facilities. In 2004–05, the Conference increased its size by adding two lower divisions, the Conference North and Conference South respectively, with the original division being renamed Conference National. For the 2006–07 season, the Conference National expanded from 22 to 24 teams by promoting two teams and relegating four teams, and also introduced a "four up and four down" system between the Conference National and the Conference North and Conference South.

In April 2007, it was announced all the Football Conference had agreed a three-year sponsorship deal with online betting firm Blue Square. Under the deal, all three Conference leagues would be sponsored by Blue Square from the 2007–08 season. This would also lead to a renaming of the leagues with the Conference National becoming the Blue Square Premier, the Conference North becoming Blue Square North and the Conference South becoming Blue Square South.^[1]

In April 2010, it was announced that Blue Square would continue to sponsor the competition for another three years. From the start of the 2010/11 season the divisions were renamed, with the Blue Square Premier becoming the Blue Square BET Premier, the Blue Square North becoming the Blue Square BET North and the Blue Square South becoming the Blue Square BET South.

Media coverage [edit]

In August 2006 Setanta Sports signed a five-year deal with the Conference. Under the deal, Setanta Sports started showing live matches in the 2007–08 season, with 79 live matches each season. Included in the deal were the annual Play Off matches as well as the Conference League Cup, a cup competition for the three Football Conference divisions.^[2] Setanta showed two live matches a week, with one on Thursday evening and one at the weekend.^[3] In Australia the Conference National was broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia. Setanta Sports suffered financial problems and ceased broadcasting in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2009.^[4] Sky Sports broadcast the Conference Play-off final 2010 at Wembley Stadium.

On 19 August 2010, Premier Sports announced that it had bought the live and exclusive UK television rights to thirty matches per season from the Conference National for a total of three seasons.^[5] The thirty matches selected for broadcast will include all five Conference National play-offs.^[6] The deal with the Football Conference is a revenue sharing arrangement whereby clubs receive 50% of revenue from subscriptions, on top of the normal rights fee paid by the broadcaster, once the costs of production have been met. The Conference will also earn 50% from all internet revenue associated with the deal and allow them to retain advertising rights allied to those adverts shown with their matches. During the 2010–11 season, Premier Sports failed to attract enough viewers to its Conference football broadcasts to share any revenue with the clubs beyond the £5,000 broadcast fee paid to home clubs and £1,000 to away clubs.