- Why the Newcastle United shirt sponsor hunt isn’t as dire as it appears
- How the betting sponsor ban has tipped the market on its head
- The Magpies could imminently announce new sponsor
The launch of the new Newcastle United home kit ahead of the 26/27 campaign is edging ever closer. But many are concerned that the club do not yet have a front-of-shirt sponsor for next season and beyond.
On the surface, it does appear rather worrying, especially with the discourse around the club needing to make more of commercial opportunities. However, take a closer look at the wider Premier League landscape, and just under half of the division are yet to confirm their sponsor.
This positions the Magpies as merely a part of a much larger statistic rather than one scrambling to try and find someone to take on the financial burden of sponsoring the shirt. But why is that the case, and how long will it be until Newcastle secure a deal?
The £80m+ sponsorship vacuum
As you should be aware by now, gone is the era of betting sponsors in the Premier League, with the long-awaited ban finally imposed ahead of the new season. As a result, 11 clubs were required to find an entirely new sponsorship deal to take them into the future.
Newcastle United wasn’t one of those clubs. The Sela sponsorship didn’t fall into that bracket, but the club still decided not to renew the deal in chase of a more valuable financial package.
The issue for the Magpies, which really should have been thought of before dropping Sela without a plan in place, is that the removal of the betting market has created an £80m hole in revenue across the division.
But that £80m doesn’t just disappear; instead, it has to be filled by companies within other sectors, such as travel and consumer brands.
This has left each one of the clubs losing their sponsor in the same market to find a new one. This competitiveness has subsequently made it much more difficult to actually secure a deal of the value that has been lost.
Add Newcastle United into that market, without European football as a pull, and that is the main reason it has taken so long thus far.
But it is also the reason that the lack of sponsors at present shouldn’t be panicked over. The fact that Newcastle aren’t even close to being the only club without a deal at present means there is still plenty of time to secure a good financial package.
Newcastle shirt sponsor imminent
There are growing reports that Newcastle’s new sponsor will be confirmed imminently.
Just who that will be and how much the agreed package will make the club is unknown at this stage. There is also a feeling that the shirt may initially be released without a sponsor present.
But all the murmurings from the club suggest there is nothing to worry about and that it won’t be too much longer before the club gets a substantial deal over the line.
Perhaps the more pressing matter is whether they can salvage any sort of fashionability with the front of the shirt print. Hopefully, it is something that at least somewhat takes away from the abysmal design it will be plastered on (yes, it looks that bad).
