English Premier League Shirt Sponsorship Hits Record £281.8M

In 2010-11, the English Premier League’s shirt sponsorships deals attracted a combined £100.45 million in investments, but since then the numbers have trebled, reaching £281.8 million ($368m) for the upcoming 2017/18 season. Not only is that figure up by £55 million ($72m) on the previous year, but it’s also an all-time record for the industry.
Amongst the companies contributing towards the escalating cash pile are gambling brands, which this season will sponsor 9 out of the League’s 20 teams for a total of £47.3 million ($62m). Counted amongst the gambling firms is Betway, who is sponsoring West Ham for £10 million ($13m) a year, followed by SportsPesa, whose sponsorship deal with Everton is worth £9.6 million ($12.5m).
Nevertheless, Betway’s deal with West Ham only makes it to number 7 on the sponsorship list, with the top six deals involving some of the world’s biggest industry leaders. This includes Chevrolet’s sponsorship of Manchester United for £47 million ($62m), Yokohama Rubber Company sponsorship of Chelsea for £40 million ($59m), and Etihad Airways sponsorship of Man City for £35 million ($46m). As the report by Sporting Intelligence subsequently concludes:
“It is tempting to conclude that if you are a ‘big’ enough club with enough clout to attract a major international corporation or business, then your owners would rather stay away from ‘tawdry’ sponsorship deals with gambling firms. But if you can’t get big bucks from a non-betting multinational, then gambling firms are evidently the genre willing to inject millions to boost their market share.”
Highlighting the Premier League’s appeal on an international scale, 16 of the clubs have sponsors who hail from overseas, including from the USA, China, Japan, Thailand, and The Philippines; with only Liverpool, Southampton, Stoke and Watford having UK-based sponsors.
Premier League clubs earn an income from three major streams, namely match day income, media income, and commercial income, which includes sponsorship deals. Currently, these teams’ respective shirt deals are worth on average around one-tenth what they earn from their Premier League TV income. In the 2105/16 season, for example, TV income amounted to an average of £119.9 million per club, while shirt sponsorship deals came in at around £11.35 million.