Premier League: Man U launches campaign as leader in sponsorship revenues

The much-awaited new season of Premier League kicked-off yesterday with Manchester United sweeping away their first win of their 2018-19 campaign against Leicester City 2-0.

Just weeks after the completion of the high octane, action-packed FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, the world’s most popular football league is back with another season showcasing est talents from around the world representing their respective professional clubs in England.

The clubs had a pre-season phase inking deals with sponsors and partners as well as strengthening their squads during the transfer window that shut two days ago. Year 2018 has proved to be a prosperous season for some of the Premier League clubs that have raked in fortunes signing new brands and extending with the existing ones.

According to a recent report, Premier League clubs have generated a record £313.6 million ($400 mn) from combined shirt sponsorship deals alone for 2018-19 season, representing an impressive 212.2% growth since the 2010/11 season. The amount also shows an increase of £31.8m ($41.84 m) from last year.

This season, 9 out of 20 clubs will continue with betting and gambling companies as their shirt sponsor despite Football Association’s (FA) diktat last year directing efforst to clean up the sport’s image.

Manchester United continues to rule the roster for the highest sponsorship revenues among the 20 clubs with $219.6 million from Shirt, kit and sleeve sponsors. This is primarily attributed to the $1.3 billion), kit sponsorship deal of the club with German sportswear giant Adidas. The deal, signed in 2016, expires in 2026 and is the most expensive kit deal ever signed in the history of club football.

To put United-Adidas deal in perspective, the annual cash stream from the deal is 32.5% of the entire Premier League’s revenue from the principal/shirt sponsors of the respective clubs. It also rakes in $62.1 million annually from its shirt/chest sponsor General Motors marking the second highest deal after Manchester City’s $65.2 million deal with Etihad Airways.

Below are the top 5 clubs based on their current year’s cumulative revenue streams from Shirt (Principal), kit and sleeve sponsors and their detailed insight:

Manchester United

Man U with record 20 Premier League titles are also the forerunners when it comes to the commercial pitch. The club was also seen as the busiest among all signing new deals and extending the previous ones. ManU’s newly launched women’s team have also started on a high note FA Women’s Championship and will be aiming to reach the top women division after their inaugural season.

Principal sponsor: General Motors, $559 million; deal duration – 2012-2021

Kit supplier: Adidas, $1.3 billion; deal duration – 2016-2026

Sleeve sponsor: Kohler, $27.5 million per season, duration unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: Standard Chartered, Wireless Infrastructure Group, Petro-Canada Lubricants

Chelsea

Chelsea was unable to convert their 2016-17 success last year and will be aiming for their seventh Premier League title triumph. The club faced a bad started after going down at the hands of Manchester City in the FA Cup Community Shield 2018 tie. The blues holds the second spot for the second highest sponsorship revenues at $134.1 million.

Principal sponsor: Yokohama Rubber, $257.6 million; deal duration – 2015-2020

Kit supplier: Nike, $1.15 billion; deal duration – 2016-2032

Sleeve sponsor: Hyundai, $64.4 million; deal duration – 2018-2024

New deals since 2017/18 season: Hyundai, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Doyen, Sony Music, Star Beer, Rexona, Ericsson, Sure

Liverpool

UEFA Champions League 2017-18 runners-up, Liverpool have entered a deal with the Wireless Infrastructure Group this year that saw the company install a stadium-wide network at Anfield to give supporters and visitors access to high-quality 4G services in a bid to enhance matchday experience.

Principal sponsor: Standard Chartered, $236.1 million; deal duration – 2018-2023

Kit supplier: New Balance, $390 million; deal duration – 2012-2019

Sleeve sponsor: Western Union, $32.1 million; deal duration – 2017-2022

New deals since 2017/18 season: Standard Chartered, Wireless Infrastructure Group, Petro-Canada Lubricants

Manchester City

The reigning Premier League champions, Manchester City will also start the season on a high note among the top 5 clubs with highest annual sponsorship revenues and its pre-season victory over Chelsea in FA Cup Community Shield 2018. City along with Chelsea have signed sponsorship deals with Unilever’s brand this week.

Manchester City also became the first team in English top division football to launch a competitive gaming team in China, while they also signed their first esports-specific deal with Turtle Beach.

Principal sponsor: Etihad Airways, $652 million; deal duration – 2011-2021

Kit supplier: Nike, $108 million; deal duration – 2013-2019

Sleeve sponsor: Nexen Tire, $12.9 million per season, duration unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: Turtle Beach, Xylem, PAK Lighting, Marathonbet, AvaTrade, SeatGeek, Nexon, Tinder, Barclays, Amazon, Gatorade, Khmer Beverages, Mundipharma, Rexona

Arsenal

The gunners will start their campaign with both a new owner and a new manager. Stan Kroenke assumed full ownership of the club by buying out rival Alisher Usmanov’s 30 per cent stake for US$700 million on the eve of the new season whereas Unai Emery will replace Arsene Wenger after his 22-year long illustrious career with the Gunners. The club has recently announced a deal with Bank of Cairo

Principal sponsor: Emirates, $257.6 million; deal duration – 2018-2024

Kit supplier: Puma, $193 million; deal duration – 2014-2019

Sleeve sponsor: Rwanda Tourist Board, $38.6 million; deal duration – 2018-2021

New deals since 2017/18 season: Acronis, Tidal, CashBet, Hyde Park Developments, WorldRemit, Cover-More, Vitality, Banque du Caire

Here are the other 15 Premier League 2018/10 clubs and their commercial associates:

AFC Bournemouth

Principal sponsor: M88, $10.2 million) ; deal duration – 2017-2019

Kit supplier: Umbro, $6.4 million; deal duration – 2017-2022

Sleeve sponsor: N/A

New deals since 2017/18 season: AudienceView, Deep South Media, Vitality, Tempobet, Greenwood Campbell

Brighton and Hove Albion

Principal sponsor: American Express, $1.9 million per season, length unreported

Kit supplier: Nike, $1.3 million per season, duration unreported

Sleeve sponsor: JD, value and duration of the deal unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: IT First, Pogoseat, Italk, Bespoke, TR Fastenings

Burnley

Principal sponsor: LaBa360, $3.8 million per season, duration unreported

Kit supplier: Puma, $1.3 million per season, duration unreported

Sleeve sponsor: N/A

New deals since 2017/18 season: Teletrade, Ladbrokes

Cardiff City

Principal sponsor: Visit Malaysia, $3.8 million per season, duration unreported

Kit supplier: Adidas, value and duration of the deal unreported

Sleeve sponsor: JD, value and duration of the deal unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: VideoDoc, K8.com, 1xBet, Trojan, PAS

Crystal Palace

Principal sponsor: ManBetX, $8.4 million per season, duration unreported

Kit supplier: Puma, value and duration of the deal unreported

Sleeve sponsor: Dongqiudi, value and duration of the deal unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: Puma, GambleAware, Royale International, Apollo Tyres, Twickets, Tempobet

Everton

Principal sponsor: SportPesa, $61.8 million; deal duration – 2017-2022

Kit supplier: Umbro, $38.6 million; deal duration – 2014-2019

Sleeve sponsor: Rovio, value and duration of the deal unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: Rovio, SecuTix, Thomas Cook Sport, Davanti Tyres

Fulham

Principal sponsor: Dafabet, $7.6 million; deal duration – 2018-2020

Kit supplier: Adidas, value unreported, deal expires in 2023

Sleeve sponsor: N/A

New deals since 2017/18 season: ICM Capital

Huddersfield

Principal sponsor: Ope Sports, $1.9 million per season, duration unreported

Kit supplier: Umbro, value unreported, deal expires in 2022

Sleeve sponsor: Leisu Sports, value and duration of the deal unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: Coco Fuzion, Kenyon Weston, Cedar Court, ISDM, Orchard FM, All My Systems, Kinect, Evolve, Lister Horsfall, Multiflight, Grand Central, SciSports, Bockelkamp Sports Marketing, Easy Fireplace, Goodwin Smith

Leicester City

Principal sponsor: King Power, $5.1 million per season, duration unreported

Kit supplier: Adidas, value and duration of the deal unreported

Sleeve sponsor: Bia Saigon, value unreported, deal expires in 2019

New deals since 2017/18 season: ThaiBev, Vitality, W88, Adidas, Lanes Fine Jewellery, Dafabet, DirectAsia

Newcastle United

Main sponsor: Fun88, $25.1 million, deal expires in 2020

Kit supplier: Puma, $5.2 million per season; deal duration – 2014-2020

Sleeve sponsor: N/A

New deals since 2017/18 season: ProgrammeMaster

Southampton

Principal sponsor: Virgin Media, $20.5 million; deal duration – 2016-2019

Kit supplier: Under Armour, $36 million; deal duration – 2016-2023

Sleeve sponsor: Virgin Media, $3 million; deal duration – 2017-2019

New deals since 2017/18 season: Brickhill, Utilita Energy, Unily

Tottenham Hotspur

Principal sponsor: AIA, $225.4 million; deal duration – 2017-2022

Kit supplier: Nike, $38.6 million per season, deal signed in 2017, duration unreported

Sleeve sponsor: N/A

New deals since 2017/18 season: Harman, Hotels.com, Beavertown, William Hill, Fun88, Daktronics, Sporting Force, Schneider Electric, Mitel, Mammoth, Healthspan, Leagoo, SCX

Watford

Principal sponsor: FxPro, $11.5 million; deal duration – 2017-2020

Kit supplier: Adidas, value unreported, deal expires in 2020

Sleeve sponsor: MoPlay, value and duration unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: MoPlay, Mullanys Coaches

West Ham United

Principal sponsor: Betway, $52 million; deal duration – 2016-2020

Kit supplier: Umbro, $25.5 million; deal duration – 2015-2020

Sleeve sponsor: Bassett & Gold, value and duration unreported

New deals since 2017/18 season: EVA Air, Lagardère Sports

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Principal sponsor: W88, $19.2 million; deal duration – 2018-2022