THE cash-strapped Penrith Panthers could lose the NRL's longest-serving major sponsor, with Sanyo placing an upgraded contract for the club under review.
The departure of Sanyo would be a crushing blow for the Panthers as the electronics giant has pumped in $6 million to the foot of the mountains over the past 12 seasons.
Continued rumblings of instability between the playing group and senior management at the club have placed the 2003 premiers under sustained pressure.
And after missing out on luring veteran Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens on a $2.5 million four-year deal, the focus on the club will continue to intensify.
Sanyo Oceania's managing director Bill Crichton confirmed the company's 12-year association with the club would be reviewed when the current contract expires at the end of this season.
"Let me start by saying we've always shared a terrific relationship with the Panthers for the 12 years that we've been involved with them," Crichton said.
"We've always been very happy with the commercial terms for both parties whether the club has finished first or last and, in our long association, we've seen them do both.
"Like all our branding deals, every couple of years around July we look at what we're doing with those sorts of arrangements.
"So the current deal will be reviewed over the next couple of months, as will all our other commercial sponsorship arrangements."
With the Panthers' Leagues club posting $21 million in losses over the past two years, the end of the club's arrangement with Sanyo would come as a crippling blow to the football club.
Four weeks ago The Sunday Telegraph revealed how outgoing coach Matthew Elliott was owed $25,000 in wages for three months before Christmas, and debts to creditors were stretched to the extreme.
The Sunday Telegraph has been told the situation is so dire the Panthers' beer supplier refused to deliver before a home game this season until a debt was settled.
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