October 9 – Premier League Manchester United with €269 million-a-year ($308.7 million) in commercial deals are top of a ranking of European club sponsorship by value. Barcelona are close behind in second with income of €261 million ($291.5 million).
They were the only two clubs in Europe’s Big 5 leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain to break the €200 million mark for sponsorship.
The research by CSM Sport & Entertainment identified 1,769 sponsorship deals, involving 1,156 companies in 50 different sectors, which results in a total sponsorship investment of approximately €3,918 million across the five top leagues.
The difference between the top two clubs and 11th placed Dortmund is a massive €180 million, with the disparity made even greater by the fact that Dortmund is working hard for their €80 million which comprises 71 deals, more than any of the ten clubs above them.
That top 10 includes all the usual suspects when it comes to big money European club football with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in third and fourth, followed by a Premier League quartet of Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, with Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus rounding off what are Europe’s A listers by pretty much any measure you can come up with.
Looking at the business sectors the generate the sponsorship income, the researchers identified 11 individual sectors with the financial sector investing the most money across the top five European leagues with €314 million. The automotive sector invests €305 million and Airlines are third, contributing €266 million at a rate of just over €12 million per deal.
By country the Premier League leads by some margin in Europe, making over €1.2 billion a year from 440 sponsorship agreements. followed by Germany’s Bundesliga where 617 deals generate €734.7 million. Perhaps surprisingly, Spain, with its fast expanding LaLiga brand, is third in value with €678.5 million,
Italy’s Serie A generates €439.3 million while France’s Ligue 1 generates €357.8 million – PSG making up €112 million of that figure.
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