Manchester United sparked a trend over the past decade of sponsoring as many parts of the club as possible, sleeves, tyre partners, travel agreements, and so much more. This has bled over into the rest of the Premier League with new sponsors entering the fray across the board for different deals like training gear sponsorships. In this, we will be looking at some of the emerging trends and some of the biggest contracts in the division.
Cryptocurrency
The emerging world of electronic markets is one that will cross over with football eventually. We could see names like Chiliz. Over the last few years, a new layer has quietly joined that stack: tokens, rewards and digital badges tied directly to clubs and competitions. Many of those sit on top of Chiliz Chain, a sports-first blockchain that powers Fan Tokens, loyalty NFTs and a growing number of apps designed specifically for supporters. A crypto contract could be just on the horizon in the higher ebbs of world football, either for an English team or one of Europe’s powerhouses in Real Madrid, Barcelona, or the well-marketed Paris Saint-Germain.
With some crypto brands having a market cap of over $1 trillion and the majority having caps in the hundreds of billions, there is no reason to believe that they can’t soon join party and make a big statement, sponsoring a major club for game-changing money.
Drink Sponsors
Recently announced by Chelsea, and brought into consciousness, official drink sponsors could emerge as a new way to monetise your football club. These deals can prove very lucrative as the immense footfall in both Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow offers hundreds of thousands of people every year paying concessions. These people are now being given Coca-Cola products, a benefit for the company itself and the club gathering sponsor money. With the number of people going through stadiums every season, this could be something we see replicated more going forward.
Biggest Sponsorship Contracts
In the current league, the biggest contracts are unsurprisingly with the major teams. Four of the established Big Six are in the top half of the list with Manchester City leading the way at a whopping £67 Million per season, enough to buy a player or two depending on their value.
The massive global brand of Manchester United has earned the second best per-season deal as their agreement with Snapdragon puts them at £60 Million, just behind their noisy neighbours in blue. Arsenal and Liverpool follow up at £50 Million apiece. Brighton & Hove Albion’s deal is bigger on paper but spans a longer period and makes less every year than their cohorts. Chelsea are notably absent as they don’t currently have a front-of-shirt sponsor.
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IMAGO / Uk Sports Pics Ltd
