Manchester City’s new Etihad Airways deal yet to take off despite Premier League deal
Manchester City’s controversial sponsorship and naming rights deal with Etihad Airways has not yet been waved through as part of the club’s Associated Party Transaction settlement with the Premier League.
The new long-term deal, which was blocked by the Premier League’s independent assessors two years ago, must still go through the top-flight’s Fair Market Value assessment process, although there is a widespread expectation that a significant uplift on their current contract will be approved.
As part of last week’s settlement, Manchester City accepted that the APT rules were valid and binding, so must accept the outcome of the FMV assessment.
The result may never be known, as the Premier League does not inform other clubs about FMV outcomes, although some clues may be found in City’s accounts if their amount of sponsorship varies from year to year.
Chelsea, for example, were forced to alter the value of, and income received from, the sale of two hotels at Stamford Bridge to its parent company, BlueCo 22.
The hotels were originally sold for £76.5m last year before being restated at £70.5m in this year’s accounts, although the sale still fulfilled its main function of enabling Chelsea to comply with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR).
Chelsea’s sale of its women’s team to BlueCo for £198.7m earlier this year is currently going through the Premier League’s FMV assessment, and its value could also be adjusted.
Manchester United in red or black?
Manchester United will face more scrutiny this week despite having no game due to their failure to qualify for Europe, with their annual accounts to be published at midday on Wednesday.
Twelve months ago United reported net losses of £113.2m in their accounts for the year ending June 30 2024, bleak results which led Sir Jim Ratcliffe to claim in March that they risked running out money by the end of the year.
Manchester United spent heavily on Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko this summer however, indicating that the club’s redundancy drive and moves to cut the wage-bill have significantly improved their underlying financial position.
Tip-off
Dazn has signed a one-year extension to its rights deal with Super League Basketball, giving the streaming platform exclusive live coverage of this season’s competition, which is due to begin on Friday.
The new deal is a major boost for SLB which had been in doubt for much of the summer due to an ongoing legal battle with governing body the British Basketball Federation (BBF), who they are suing over an alleged illegal and uncompetitive tender process to set up a new competition, GBBL, which it was confirmed on Monday plans to launch in 2027.
In response, the BBF had attempted to block SLB clubs from signing overseas players for this season by withholding governing body endorsement from visa applications, but after making representations to the Home Office the signings went through.
Football rights set for fresh battle
Uefa is expecting more intense competition for the video clip rights for the Champions League and Europa League when the tender process for the next cycle, covering 2027 to 2030, takes place later this season.
The BBC currently has UK clip rights as part of its highlights deal, which includes a weekly 80-minute Match of the Day round-up programme, but could be challenged by new media disruptors such as Gary Lineker’s Rest is Football and Gary Neville’s The Overlap, who have this season acquired clip rights to LaLiga and the Bundesliga respectively.