Manchester United have seen a decline in the fair market value of their sponsorship deals according to a new report
Manchester United’s main sponsorship deals are the most overvalued in the Premier League according to a new report.
With defeat in Bilbao last month to Tottenham Hotspur resulting in the north London side booking their spot in next season’s Champions League at the expense of United, something that could be worth in excess of £100m, the fair market value of the Red Devils’ sponsorship inventory in 2025 has diminished.
Analysis from The Sponsor, one of the leading publications that focuses on the global sponsorship industry, has ranked the 20 Premier League teams that will contest the 2025/26 campaign in order of the value of their main shirt sponsorship deal, and how much overvalued or undervalued each deal is.
The Sponsor’s 2025 Premier League Fair Market Sponsorship Values Report puts United third on the list in terms of the size of value of the deal with Qualcomm (Snapdragon) standing at £60m. But that valuation was noted in the report as being £8.9m overvalued, the largest overvaluation among Premier League clubs by some distance. Liverpool’s £50m per year deal with Standard Chartered, in comparison, was viewed as being £15.9m undervalued on the back of their Premier League success, while Manchester City, who have a £67.5m deal with Etihad Airways, were pegged as being £3.7m overvalued.
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United’s fair market value for 2024 sat at £64.5m in last year’s report, making this year’s £51.1m fair market value down £13.4m (21%) year on year.
Speaking to the MEN, Sean Connell, editor of The Sponsor, said: “Manchester United’s sponsorship value has fallen sharply, and the timing couldn’t be worse for Snapdragon, who activated an extension through to 2029 at £60m per year, £10m more than Standard Chartered pay Liverpool.
“With no European football next season and declining on-pitch performance, the deal now looks poor value, delivering significantly less exposure and weaker brand association than anticipated. Unless Ruben Amorim can quickly reverse the slide, United’s ability to command top-tier sponsorship fees not just for front-of-shirt, but across all assets will continue to deteriorate.”
The lack of European football next season will bite hard commercially, although United’s historic legacy still holds weight in the sponsorship world and ensures some credit in the bank, but the lack of exposure to European audiences means commercial partners will see significantly reduced visibility, impacting the value they receive in return.
Connell added: “There’s still time to turn it around.
“United’s global fanbase and commercial legacy remain incredibly strong, and its front-of-shirt sponsorship value is still greater than those of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham at £51.1 million. However, the gap between potential and performance is widening and sponsors are taking note.”
The Sponsor methodology to reach Fair Market Value, which is a rule in play with the Premier League after being voted through after the takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, uses a number of different metrics.
Each club’s sponsorship strength is evaluated relative to its peers using a weighted scorecard based on the criteria most important to senior brand marketers. These criteria are identified via a survey of The Sponsor’s audience of marketing leaders and grouped into three categories; reputation, audience and contribution.
Brand reach was weighted most heavily, reflecting its importance to sponsors.
The strength scores were then compared with publicly reported sponsorship values from trusted media outlets such to identify market trends and anchor points.
Polynomial regression was then used and a market curve was generated to map sponsorship strength to value, producing a Fair Market Value for each Premier League club’s front-of-shirt and sleeve assets.
2025-06-03 09:00:00
