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With the completion of their 10-year £750m kit deal with adidas, Manchester United stand to earn about £143m annually from their three main commercial deals. The other two are with Chevolet, who are paying £357m over seven years to sponsor the club’s shirts and Aon, whose sponsorship of the club’s shirts and Carrington training base is worth £136m over eight years.
Adidas is expected to sign a 10-year deal to supply Manchester United’s kit that could be worth up to £750m after rival Nike declined to match the German company’s offer. It is likely to be the biggest deal in football and worth more than double that Real Madrid has with the company.
Prolonged talks between Nike and United to extend the 13-year kit deal ended with a statement from the US company saying the terms on offer ‘did not represent good value for Nike’s shareholders’ and that its relationship would end after next season.
In some ways the biggest commercial winners from the World Cup may be those brands that are not official sponsors. Fifa partners were wrong footed by widespread protests over the cost of staging the competition in Brazil, although these died away once the competition started and Brazil progressed. However, it is difficult to stage and manage campaigns in countries experiencing deep social tensions and transformations.
There is an increasing interest in the domestic football competition in Brazil, but the challenge for companies is how to do business with the leagues and clubs given their often chaotic financial state, They are frequently heavily indebted and run by huge boards mostly made up of sports enthusiasts rather than professional managers.
A-league side Melbourne Heart, 80 per cent owned by Sheikh Mansour, has been rebranded as Melbourne City. It has also been given a new badge with more sky blue in it. The name change aligns it with Manchester City and New York City, the idea being to spread the City brand across the globe.
Charlton Athletic have announced that the University of Greenwich is to be the club’s new kit sponsor. The club plays in the London Borough of Greenwich and there are thought to be possible synergies with its Academy operation. It can’t, however, be a big money spinner.
Charlton are not the first club to have a university on their shirts as Conference side Lincoln City was sponsored by the University of Lincoln for two years.
New commercial deals are key to Liverpool’s continuing success as the club prepares for the Champions League. The constraints of the stadium, and the financial situation of the fans, means that ticket sales cannot generate much more revenue. The club is raising average adult season ticket prices next year by the rate of inflation.
The share of Premier League central revenues has gone up from £55m in 2012-13 to £97.5m. That will go some way to overcoming a loss of £49.9m in 2012-13, although there have been substantial transfer expenditures this season.
Premier League clubs face a substantial loss of income because of action by the gambling regulator on online betting operators that use the league’s international popularity to promote their websites to Asian audiences.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool are among a number of top clubs that have sponsorship deals with online operators that take very few bets from UK customers but benefit from the Premier League’s popularity in Asian betting markets.
Rangers have concluded a three year shirt sponsorship deal with online casino group 32Red. The company has previously sponsored Aston Villa and Swansea City.
32Red chief executive Ed Ware said ‘This is not a punt. It is an educated investment.’ Rangers were ‘on the comeback trail.’
A narrow majority of Hull season ticket holders has backed plans to change the name of Hull City to Hull Tigers. However, 60 per cent did not respond and some fans felt the question was biased because it linked the named change with the Allam family remaining in charge at the club.