The Premier League is loved by millions. It’s the most watched sports league in the world, and the top level of the men’s English football league system. Fifty clubs have played in the Premier League since its inception in 1992, when twenty-two inaugural members held the first season from 1992-1993. To date, just seven clubs have won the title, with Manchester United racking up 13 wins, followed by local rivals Manchester City on six.
It goes without saying that there’s big bucks in the Premier League. The Deloitte Football Money League 2022 (DFML), which provides an annual profile of the football clubs generating the highest global revenue, reported that the Premier League accounted for almost half of total spending across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues in the January 2022 transfer window.
Manchester City top the DFML, with a total revenue of €644.9million. But other Premier League clubs that feature include Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Leicester City, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wolves, and Everton. Given the high profile of the league and teams within it, it’s no surprise that lots of this revenue comes from sponsorship deals. Those with car manufacturers are no exception. In this article, we’ll look at six teams with car sponsorship deals and what they involve – plus one that didn’t quite happen.
Premier League teams and their car sponsorship deals
1.Manchester United
For the past seven years, the Chevrolet logo – known as a ‘bowtie’ for its shape – has appeared on the front of Manchester United’s shirts. The initial deal was struck up to last from the 2014-2015 season to the end of 2020-2021, but was extended until the end of the 2021-2022 season as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, Chevrolet’s bowtie logo is now no longer going to adorn the front of Man Utd’s jerseys. The US-based automobile company have been replaced with a five-year shirt sponsorship deal with global technology company Team Viewer via a contract worth £47 million a year – an annual drop of around £17 million in revenue from the Chevrolet deal.
Chevrolet remain the official automobile sponsor of Manchester United, however, with reports suggesting that players were offered vehicles including the C7 Chevy Corvette and sixth-generation Chevy Camaro.
2.Liverpool
In 2019, Liverpool announced a global sponsorship deal with MG Motors. The collaboration between MG and Liverpool FC began in 2016, when the former became the official automobile partner of the Reds – but only in mainland China. Following three successful years of partnership, this deal was expanded to make MG the global automobile sponsor of Liverpool FC.
Under the terms of this deal, MG benefit from signed merchandise, as well as LED advertising, club hospitality, and even the creation of limited edition LFC-branded cars.
3.Manchester City
In 2019, Manchester City and Nissan re-established their relationship as global partners, a collaboration that has been in place since 2014. This was then followed up by a further extension in 2021, when the renewal saw the lucrative partnership entering its third term. The deal confirmed Nissan as the official automotive partner of City Football Group and its teams in the UK, USA, and Australia.
As a result of the deal, Nissan enjoy a high-profile presence at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, with Nissan also promising to introduce their premium electric vehicles to the team, exemplifying both partners’ investment in world-leading innovation.
In 2019, Man City Manager Pep Guardiola appeared in Nissan’s campaign ‘Electrify the City’, where he drove the Nissan Ariya all-electric crossover alongside Nissan’s Formula E racing driver Sebastien Buemi towards the Etihad Stadium.
4.Chelsea
In March 2022, the South Korean company Hyundai suspended their partnership with Chelsea ‘until further notice’ following the sanctions imposed by the UK government on Roman Abramovich. Hyundai weren’t the first to walk from the club – British telecom company Three also suspended its £40million deal with the Blues, which has since been resumed.
The sponsorship deal between Hyundai and Chelsea had been in place since June 2018, when it was announced that Hyundai Motor Company would become the club’s Global Automotive Partner, with their logo featuring on the sleeves of all Chelsea shirts in domestic competitions. The move marked the first venture by Hyundai into the UK football market, and secured the company’s visible branding through car displays at the club, as well as home matchday presence and certain marketing rights.
Understandably, the suspension of the deal between Hyundai and Chelsea made major waves in the League – and, at the time of writing, no indication has been given as to whether Hyundai will restore their deal with the club.
5.Brentford
When teams enter the Premier League, everything they do gets a little more attention. So, it was no surprise to see Brentford agreeing a deal with their local Porsche Centre in West London when pushing for the top flight in 2018. The partnership sees Porsche involved in key club events, such as “partner networking, golf days and new stadium events”. As well as adding to the luxury experience for those attending the events, it allows Porsche to showcase its cars in the best way possible.
6.Tottenham
Last but certainly not least is Tottenham, who announced Audi as their Official Car Partner in 2018. The deal included digital signage at the stadium as well as inclusion on digital media. Most notably for fans, however, it saw Tottenham compete in the 2019 Audi Cup. They ran out winners, beating hosts Bayern Munich on penalties after overcoming Real Madrid just a day earlier.
And almost – Arsenal
While it didn’t quite go through, one of the most talked about car sponsorship deals was that between Arsenal and BYD. Short for Build Your Dreams, the Chinese carmaker is an industry leader for electric vehicles – hence Arsenal’s big announcement of the deal in 2018.
The deal included pitch-side signage and branded seating at the Emirates, Arsenal’s home. However, it wasn’t as it seemed. It was later revealed that the marketing manager for BYD was actually a fraudulent woman who had never been employed or given any authorisation by BYD.
