Why shirt sponsorship is a sure bet

Shirt sponsorship deals can bring in as much as £50million ($60.7m) a season, with sleeve and training kit partners widening income streams further still. England’s top-flight sides have come a long way from the photocopying and timber firms on their shirts in the 1990s. Seven of the current sponsors are betting firms, a relationship that concerns many fans.

But The Athletic recently reported that as many as half of the 20 Premier League clubs were still to confirm their principle commercial partner for 2023-24, including Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle United.

Since 2006, when Arsenal moved to a new home carrying the same branding, Emirates has been on the front of their shirts. That long-running partnership was last renewed in 2018 and an extended five-year contract, said to be worth £40million per season, is due to expire in 18 months. The commercial market will now be explored for improved terms by the Premier League’s current leaders.

No club in the Premier League has a longer commercial deal in place than Brighton. American Express, whose UK headquarters are based in the town and also own the naming rights to the club’s stadium, signed a 12-year deal in 2019 said to be worth £100million, or £8million per season. That is in place until the end of the 2030-31 season.

One of the most lucrative shirt sponsorships in the Premier League is at Liverpool, it is thought the deal is worth close to £50million a season. The partnership had been due to expire this summer, but a four-year extension promises to keep Standard Chartered Bank on Liverpool’s kits until the 2026-27 season.

Perhaps the most interesting deal to be struck ahead of next season is at Newcastle. The existing deal with Fun88 had been due to run until 2025 but was terminated early, with Newcastle pursuing a more lucrative partner. Noon — backed by the club’s majority owners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — is already the sleeve sponsor and another partner with Saudi links is expected. Newcastle have huge commercial ground to make up on their top four rivals and this will need to be a significant deal.

The life insurance company AIA has been on the front of Tottenham’s kits since 2013 and an eight-year deal struck in 2019 will extend their partnership through to the end of 2027. The deal is thought to be worth in the region of £40million a season to Tottenham and helped the north London side bring in greater commercial revenues last season than either Chelsea or Arsenal.

Betway, the online gambling firm, has been on West Ham’s shirts since 2015 and still has another two and a half years to run. Thought has been given to packaging up a sponsor with the naming rights for the London Stadium, something that could inflate the £10million per year currently being paid.

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion. Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs. An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site. He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned. He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long. What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do

The Political Economy of Football V2

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