Soccer-Man City take the lead in the sponsorship arms race

Nexen Tire

17/03/2017 16:43

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Manchester City have stolen a 
march on their rivals by becoming the first Premier League club 
to sign a "sleeve sponsorship" deal after a relaxing of rules 
surrounding logos. 
    From next season the right sleeve of City's matchday shirt 
-- a prime piece of advertising real estate -- will carry the 
name of Nexen Tire, a South Korean firm that is already one of 
the club's commercial partners. 
    The deal will mean one of the Premier League's own logos 
will be removed, although it will remain on the left sleeve with 
another on the back of the shirt. 
    City, owned by Sheikh Mansour who is a member of Abu Dhabi's 
ruling family, never disclose the value of sponsorship deals 
although the tie-up with main shirt and stadium sponsor Etihad, 
agreed in 2011, is thought to be worth 400 million pounds ($495 
million) over 10 years. 
    The Premier League's decision to free up advertising space 
on club shirts means England's top-tier clubs can look forward 
to even greater riches on top of their share of the eye-watering 
5.1 billion pounds domestic TV deal that kicked in this season. 
    That deal guarantees top flight clubs around 80 million 
pounds per season, not including overseas TV rights. 
    City chief executive Ferran Soriano said the deal was part 
of the club's forward-thinking approach. 
    "At Manchester City, we are always striving to take an 
original approach to our commercial partnerships, creating great 
relationships and great content for our fans," he said in a 
statement. 
    The Premier League ended a title-sponsor deal with Barclays 
last year -- freeing up a 100mm square patch of cloth that club 
commercial directors will be keen to sell to the highest bidder. 
    It could pave the way for a flurry of new sponsors 
clamouring to have their logos on sleeves next season -- 
although main shirt sponsors who fork out millions of pounds 
each season may be less keen to share the spotlight. 
 
 
($1 = 0.8080 pounds) 
 
 (Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis) 
 ((martyn.herman@thomsonreuters.com; +442075427933; Reuters 
Messaging: martyn.herman@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SOCCER ENGLAND MCI/SLEEVE