Manchester United sign record deal with new title sponsor

One of the most famous clubs in the English Premier League (EPL), 20-time English champion Manchester United, announced the signing of a record contract with Qualcomm Corporation. The agreement stipulates that the key brand of the American company – Snapdragon – will flaunt on the chests of Manchester players for at least three years. Cooperation with Qualcomm will bring Manchester United £60 million annually, and this is a world record for such deals. At the beginning of August, the Manchester team also marked a record deal – they signed a contract with Adidas. The German concern agreed to pay more than £900 million over ten years for the right to be the outfitter of the English club.

One of the most famous clubs in the world, 20-time champion of England, three-time winner of the European Cup, Manchester United, announced a change of “T-shirt”—essentially, title—sponsor starting next season, that is, 2024. Manchester residents have agreed to cooperate with the leading chip developer Qualcomm Corporation.

Starting next season, the jerseys of the club’s men’s and women’s teams will feature the Snapdragon brand logo (this is how processors from Qualcomm are labeled).

The deal itself would not have aroused much interest if it had not turned out to be a record for the T-shirt sponsorship market. The parties do not disclose the financial terms of the contract, however, as reported by, for example, Daily Mail, cooperation with the Californian corporation will bring Manchester United £60 million (about €70 million) per year. In its turn, The Athletic reports $75 million per year. The minimum contract duration is three years. It may be extended in the future.

Thus, Manchester United achieved a world football record jersey contract, significantly improving the terms of the still existing agreement with the German software manufacturer TeamViewer.

The agreement with the latter was signed quite recently – in 2021 – and was designed for five years, during which the Manchester team were to receive £47 million per season. However, in 2022, after TeamViewer’s financial performance went down, the company’s shareholders announced that the contract with Manchester United would not be renewed after 2026. In December, the parties agreed that TeamViewer would provide Manchester United with the opportunity to buy back previously sold rights. Apparently this is what happened.

• Let us note that until today the owner of the largest “T-shirt” contract was Real Madrid. His agreement with Fly Emirates brings the club slightly less than what Manchester United will receive.
• In second place was the French PSG with Qatar Airways – €65 million (£56 million) per year.
• In third place is Barcelona with the Spotify streaming service: €57 million (£49 million) per year.

The management of Manchester United just recently, at the beginning of August, already reported on a record deal, although not on a global scale, but only for England. It was about extending the agreement with Adidas. The German manufacturer won the right to remain Manchester’s outfitter for another ten years (starting in 2025) and agreed to pay £900 million for this.

There are only two agreements in European football that rival Manchester’s.

These are also the ten-year contracts with Nike and Adidas of Barcelona and Real Madrid, signed in the middle and end of the previous decade. The Barcelona one allows the club to receive €105 million per year (£90.3 million), the Madrid one – €120 million (£103 million).

New contracts with Qualcomm and Adidas will certainly affect the progress of negotiations on the sale of Manchester United, which have been ongoing since the end of 2022. The American Glazer family, which owns it, is seeking a sale price of £6 billion, which potential buyers consider an extremely inflated figure. Improved sponsorship deals could strengthen the Manchester owners’ bargaining power.

Alexander Petrov