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Chelsea continue the theme of automotive-related shirt sponsorships by securing a 5-year, £50m (!!) deal with Hyundai for putting their logo on the left shirt sleeve (the right sleeve has the Premier League badge). The deal starts this summer, and is replacing the Alliance Tyres logo that was there this season. Alliance Tyres is a subsidiary of Yokohama (Tyres), who are the main shirt sponsors.
So we’ve got tyres, we’ve got cars, we’ve got an energy drink on the training kit, we can drive all night, to get to you.
The deal has not been officially confirmed yet, but the Times seem quite confident in their reporting of it. The new sponsorship adds perhaps as much as £10m per year to the bottom line — it’s unclear how much, if any extra Yokohama were paying for the Alliance Tyres logo to be displayed, too. The £10m is not only a new Premier League benchmark, but, according to the Times’ report, it doubles the previous best deal: Manchester City’s agreement with Nexen Tires.
City themselves will be looking for a new sponsorship deal for their shirt sleeve this summer, so they may yet retake the lead. But either way, well done, marketing director Chris Townsend! If we’re going to have to deal with logo creep, we can at least make some good money on it!