Manchester United’s latest training kit sponsorship deal is the aggregate of Milan and Inter’s actual respective shirt sponsorship contracts put together. Calcio e Finanza, the Italian outlet for business news regarding calcio, has pointed out.
The Red Devils have struck a multi-year sponsorship deal with New York based blockchain and cryptocurrency platform Tezos. Backed by its namesake foundation, Tezos will have the opportunity to appear on the training jerseys of the Old Trafford outfit for the next few years. The exact duration of the deal between the two parties is not entirely known but it is worth €24m per year – making it the highest of its kind in world football.
As one of the biggest brands in football, United have monetized their brand like very few other clubs have. Putting their reach into perspective, Inter earn €16m per year excluding bonuses from newly acquired shirt sponsors Socios.com, whereas Milan earn around €10m from Fly Emirates.
The Milan giants’ earnings (€26m) aggregate a fraction over Manchester United (€24m) with their matchday shirt sponsorship deals. In stark contrast, the Red Devils earn more than double from their matchday sponsors TeamViewer, in a deal that is said to bring in around €55m per season.
It goes without saying how impactful branding is in football, as United have over the years successfully maintained their reputation as one of the world’s biggest football clubs despite having a poor decade in the 2010s.
Between the two Milan clubs, Inter have undoubtedly made huge advances in recent years by promoting their brand to the world with the rebranding of the club logo, along with establishing training camps and schools around the world.