Double boost for Arsenal

14 April 2012

Arsenal today received a double boost when they clinched the second biggest sponsorship deal in the history of English football and Arsene Wenger announced he was within days of signing a new contract.

As part of a ground-breaking £100million deal, Arsenal's new home at Ashburton Grove will be known as the Emirates Stadium.

The 15-year agreement with the Dubai-based international airline also includes the rights to the club's shirt sponsorship over eight years from the 2006-07 season. As the deal was announced Wenger revealed he expects to still be Arsenal manager when the club make their long awaited move to their new 60,000-capacity ground less than two years from now.

He said: "The extension will be for a few years. I see no problems with that. It may not be to 2021 (when Arsenal's Emirates agreement is due to expire). I don't know if I will be sitting here then but it will be for a few years.

"This is good news we have had today. We will have money to spend on paying for the stadium and improving the team, whatever is more important at the time. It is nice to have the choice.

Perhaps we do not always realise how respected we are but it is not just the new sponsorship that is keeping me here. My contract is just a question now of fine details between my lawyer and the club's lawyers. The money is not in question."

The deal doesn't match the astonishing £300m paid by sportswear company Nike to Manchester United for their unique kit merchandising deal, but it will help the north Londoners compete with United in football's fierce competition for global marketing supremacy.

The club will receive the money in staggered payments starting with £9m in April next year.

It is estimated that the stadium naming rights are worth at least £5m a year putting it on a par with Munich's new Allianz Arena which will stage the opening game of the 2006 World Cup. That means the shirt sponsorship is worth around £3m a year, considerably less than the £9m Vodafone pay Manchester United.

Emirates currently sponsor Chelsea's shirts, but that deal will finish at the end of the season.

Several Premiership clubs have already entered the lucrative market of selling stadium naming rights, which is common in the United States and Australia in American Football and rugby.

Grounds carrying the name of sponsors in England include the Cellnet Riverside Stadium at Middlesbrough, the Reebok Stadium at Bolton and The Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium at Southampton.

It is not uncommon for major US companies to pay as much as £5m per season for American Football grounds. In Britain, Leicester signed a £1.5m deal for 10 years with Walkers.

It may take Arsenal fans several years before they are prepared to call the new stadium by its official name after decades of heading to Highbury.

Arsenal said they remained fully committed to their existing partnership with O2, which remains official club and shirt sponsor until the end of the 2005-2006 season.

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