Man Utds training kit sponsorship better than Arsenals kit deal

Boldly pushing the frontiers of what football clubs can sell, Manchester United and DHL have agreed to a lucrative first ever training kit sponsorship. Because sponsored shower towels just seemed a little too ridiculous.

From the Guardian:

The total, understood to be worth slightly over 40m across four years, exceeds the club's main shirt deal with former sponsors Vodafone, which ended in 2005, and is around half the 20m a year that Aon pays to be emblazoned across their shirt. [...]

DHL's logo will appear on training kit worn by first team, reserve and youth team players but only covers domestic fixtures.

The US company is banking on the fact that increased global media coverage of the Premier League will mean that its logo is heavily featured.

At 10 million a year, that means Man United's training kits are now making more money than Arsenal's actual match kits, which Emirates locked in at 5 million per year over eight years starting in 2006. To be fair, the Guardian does point out that Man United's training kit deal is bigger than all but five main shirt sponsorship deals in the Premier League.

Next up: Tens of millions of pounds for sponsored team chef aprons.

Photo: Reuters