Arsenal in stadium deal with Emirates

The Dubai-based airline which recently was informed on the termination of their current partnership with Premier League club Chelsea, has signed a fifteen-year naming rights deal with city rivals Arsenal to their new £357m stadium. The new 60,000 seat stadium will be known as Emirates Stadium. The airline will also become the club’s new main sponsor for eight years from August 2006, replacing the £4m-a-year deal with mobile communications company O2 which expires. The club will receive £9m-a-year for the first eight years of the deal with additional £18m which will be paid over the remaining seven years to 2021. The overall deal is worth a basic £90m plus performance-related bonuses. According to sports research specialists SPORT MARKT a new shirt sponsorship deal alone could have been worth at least £6m-a-year, therefore the total deal for naming rights over 15 years and shirt sponsorship for eight years for an overall sum of £6m-a-year is of the most cost-effective shirt sponsorships in Europe and the airline has saved itself a considerable sum of money. “To get a deal for both the shirt and the naming rights at around £6m-a-year represents a good business deal for the airline," Andrew Walsh, football sponsorship specialist at SPORT MARKT commented to media. The deal also means that the club’s current one-year agreement with UK-based airline bmi as Arsenal’s Official Airline partner, signed in August, will not be renewed.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.