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United could lose shirt sponsor

Manchester United’s front-of-shirt sponsor, TeamViewer, is under pressure to walk away from its deal with the club.  TeamViewer signed a five-year contract worth £235million ($283m today) — £47m ($57m) per year — with United in 2021 to be their front-of-shirt sponsor

But there are now fears it could attempt to leave the contract after being accused of “bleeding millions” and showing “appalling judgement” by investors.

When TeamViewer completed the deal 20 months ago, it had emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic with significant revenue due to the rapid growth in the technology sector. Since then, however, the bubble has somewhat burst post-pandemic and that growth has stagnated.

It became evident that any financial forecasts the firm had made were perhaps overly optimistic and, in hindsight, you wonder whether the deal with United would have been completed if TeamViewer knew then what they know now.

There is no escaping the fact that if TeamViewer were to attempt to end its contract with United early, it would leave the club needing to find a new front-of-shirt sponsor.  The deal was a significant boost for United and it became their second-biggest partnership — kit supplier Adidas has a 10-year, £750million ($905m today) contract in place.

And given the financially bleak outlook worldwide, attracting a similar financial windfall will be a stern test of the club’s commercial attractiveness.

 

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