United tie up £40m shirt sponsor deal... for training kit!

• zocoss

  3 Jul 11, 10:45

  New kit deal to add £400m to United kitty

  

  Global icons... Ji-Sung Park and Javier Hernandez sell millions of shirts worldwide

   

   

   

  MANCHESTER UNITED are to open talks with Nike over a world record new kit deal worth an astonishing £400million.

  The US sportswear giants pay £23.5m-a-year to supply the Premier League champions and their current 10-year agreement expires in 2015.

  Nike replaced Umbro in 2002 and United have received £303m over the course of the tie-up.

  But Florida-based owners the Glazers have seen the deal dwarfed in recent months and want to ensure their club are the top earners again.

  A United insider said: "The club have made big efforts on the commercial side over the last 12 months but the kit deal is the real big one.

  "The Glazer family are well aware what United's brand is currently worth.

  "It's not gone unnoticed that kit deals have been taken to another level since the club entered into our original agreement." 

  Nike recently signed a £38m-a-year deal with the French national team to cover the next seven years, while Barcelona also rake in £26m annually.

  .

  United, whose global stars like Ji-Sung Park and Javier Hernandez help to sell millions of shirts worldwide every year, are well aware they remain the flagship sports franchise for Nike.

  Sport of the World understands the club are "delighted" with their on-going relationship with the firm and hope to have something new in place by the middle of next year.

  But the Glazers remain focused on paying off debt and could yet be attracted by rival interest should Nike not deliver.

  It is believed a new benchmark figure will be closer to £40m a year and rising over the course of a new decade-long deal.

• zocoss

  23 Aug 11, 00:51

  Manchester United tie up £40m shirt sponsor deal... Just for their training kit!
  

   

  

  Hot propert: United's training kit, as worn by Anderson, has become valuable

   

   

   

   

  Manchester United have signed a new £40million sponsorship deal…but just for their training kit.

  Logistics company DHL are happy to fork out £10m a year for four years to brand the training gear – roughly half the sum Aon invested to put their names on United's match shirts - even though European games, the only regular occasion on which the wider media are admitted to Carrington for training, are not included in the deal.

   

  Indeed, at £10million-a-year, it is exceeded by only Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, plus Manchester City's far more complicated tie-up with Etihad Airlines, for their matchday kit.

  It adds further strength to United’s vast commercial arm, which is expected to post annual income in excess of £100million when the end-of-year results come out at some point over the next couple of months.

  In addition, the club also announced a three-year partnership with Vietnam’s leading mobile telecommunications company, Beeline, to distribute United content in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

  It is estimated United have 16million supporters in Vietnam alone and the club could now visit the country on a future tour.

  Sir Alex Ferguson said: ‘Everyone knows about the passion of our fans in that part of the world and this deal makes it a lot easier for us to keep in touch with them.’

   

• zocoss

  23 Aug 11, 13:50

  Training gear deal nets £40m

  Is there no end to football’s propensity for striking clothes-related sponsorship deals? Fortunes are already made from using kit suppliers, wearing certain boots and having names on shirts. Now it’s training gear. United would be the pioneers, of course. The champions are not exactly renowned for throwing open the gates at Carrington to the media, but that hasn’t stopped DHL from parting with £40million to have their names on United’s training kit for the next four years.

   

   

  

  New deal: Ashley Young sports the new training kit