The Political Economy of Football V2

Finance and tech companies have piled into Premier League club sponsorship this season after a ban on gambling operators appearing on the front of shirts opened up some of football’s most valuable advertising space to new bidders. Betting firms have featured on the front of more than half of Premier League shirts over the past two seasons, but a ban agreed by clubs in 2023 came into effect this summer, prompting teams to find new deals. L Lynsey Pennie-Douglas, head of UK client strategy for Nielsen Sports, told the Financial Times that the changes amounted to “a genuine reset” for the sponsorship market. “Over the past decade, the value of that real estate has risen dramatically,” she added. For clubs outside of the league’s so-called big six — Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham — the average value of front-of-shirt deals has grown from £3.4mn in 2016-17 to around £9mn a year for the new season, according to Nielsen. Crystal Palace have s...

Newcastle United have struck a three-year front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with KNOX Hydration worth around £60million ($80.6m).   The South African sports drinks company are already paying £6m a season for three years from July 1 to rename the training ground ‘The Knox’, and have now committed to succeeding Sela as the main kit partner. Unlike Sela, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Newcastle’s majority stakeholders, KNOX is not affiliated with the sovereign wealth fund. For 2026-27, KNOX will pay up to £10m, given Newcastle’s new — and controversial — home kit went on sale last week without a sponsor. But for the following two seasons, that will increase to up to £25m annually, depending on bonuses being met, with the £6m training-ground naming rights fee on top in each of those three years. Newcastle will also work with KNOX to launch a unique club-linked drinks brand, which they hope will bring in additional revenue to aid their ...

Chelsea have agreed a deal with Industrial AI company IFS to be their front-of-shirt sponsor for the rest of the season.   The shirt with the IFS logo was seen for the first time in the home draw against Burnley.. The club’s shirts have been without a front-of-shirt sponsor since a temporary arrangement lasting seven games with DAMAC ended last summer. The valuation of the agreement with IFS, who will remain a partner of the club until 2028, has not been disclosed as of yet, but it is in line with the club’s expectations for a deal like this. IFS, now the club’s 14th global partner, is the latest tech company to align itself with Chelsea. In October, the club announced a sleeve sponsorship deal with Vietnamese technology company FPT that runs until the end of the campaign. Chelsea are working on a multi-year sleeve sponsor for 2026 onwards

Chelsea are outliers in multiple ways.  Whether that’s having the youngest squad in the Premier League this season when weighted by minutes played, or their proactive transfer strategy, which has seen them already agree deals for four new young players to join next summer. Chelsea also are the only Premier League side without a front-of-shirt sponsor, and sources at the club who spoke  The Athletic  — all of who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — believe their unusual approach will pay off. The latest Football Money League report from Deloitte sheds more light on Chelsea’s revenues. Being one of only six Premier League clubs in the top 10 is a positive, and they have achieved that without a front-of-shirt sponsor. However, they are behind Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham. While a lack of front-of-shirt sponsorship is not the only reason for this, the gap would be smaller if they had one. Chelsea’s commercial reve...

Manchester City has reached a settlement with Superdry over the fashion retailer’s claims that a sponsorship deal the football club reached with Japanese brewer Asahi’s Super Dry beer brand infringed its trademark rights.   A trial at the High Court in London had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but the case was discontinued after the parties reached a deal to drop the proceedings, according to Superdry and Asahi. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Superdry filed its legal claim just over a year ago calling for Manchester City, the reigning English champions and one of the world’s richest clubs, to stop showing the beer brand on its sportswear. Lawyers for the retailer argued that the use of the logo was “liable to deceive” members of the public into believing that the training kit was designed or sold by Superdry.   City announced Asahi’s Super Dry 0.0%, a non-alcoholic beer, as its official training kit partner in 2023, and the brand featured on the front o...

Chelsea are set to enter the season without a front-of-shirt sponsor for the second consecutive year.  Infinite Athlete, last year’s sponsor, only signed up to a one-year deal before later agreeing to continue to be on the club’s shirt during pre-season. Chelsea’s 2024-25 kit is being sold on the website without a front-of-shirt sponsor and they will be the only Premier League club to begin the season having failed to secure a partner. An announcement on a new sponsor should be made soon, and it is expected to be worth similar to what Infinite Athlete paid — around £40m— for the 2023-24 season. There were discussions with Riyadh Air, an airline company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, but a multi-year partnership to sponsor the men’s and women’s teams couldn’t be found. Other conversations in the past have been had with Kaiyun Sports, a betting website. Chelsea will be mindful of entering a long-term deal given the fee won’t be as high as it would be if the...

One thing that has always given Manchester United an edge over their rivals is the sophistication of their commercial operation which has managed to sell obscure sponsorships to remote parts of the globe. Despite an 11 per cent drop in revenues, compared with the same period a year ago, to £59.4m ,  the income from sponsorship was more resilient than broadcasting and match day income. They fell almost 60 per cent and 77 per cent respectively. However, sponsors deferred over £80m of payments to United. The club has gone to great lengths to ensure that cash from commercial partners continues to flow, for example allowing General Motors’ Chevrolet flexibility in its remaining payments as the team’s main shirt sponsor. But as well as protecting the value of its current contracts, the club is looking for a new shirt sponsor ahead of the expiry of the $559m seven-year deal with   Chevrolet   at the end of the current Premier League campaign in summer 20...

GVC Holdings, the owner of Ladbroke Coral bookmakers, has called for a ban on football shirt sponsorship, as well as an end to all broadcast advertising for sports betting in the UK. The company said that its proposals would help curb problem gambling. Of course, it may be that such restrictions would be less harmful to well established brands than to newer or smaller companies seeking to raise their profile. The ever closer links between football and betting companies have given rise to concern. Britain's gambling companies provide more than £47m in shirt sponsorship deals for Premier League clubs. Nine clubs have betting companies as their main shirt sponsor. Watford and West Bromwich Albion in the Championship have gambling companies as shirt-sleeve sponsors. The most lucrative deal is that of West Ham United with Betway, worth £10m. Everton receive £9.6m from SportPesa. At the other end of the spectrum Burnley are paid £2.5m by Dafabet and Huddersfield Town £1.5m by Ope Spor...