Liverpool FC’s new main sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank was announced officially overnight with a joint statement issued by the two organisations.
The deal will run for four years starting in July 2010 and was described as “the largest commercial agreement in Liverpool’s history”. The deal is believed to be worth at least as much as the one between Manchester United and Aon, which was the most lucrative in football history. This would give Liverpool £20m per season, a total of £80m per season, and a massive increase on the £7.5m per season that was negotiated with Carlsberg.
Standard Chartered are based in the UK, but the vast majority of their business is done in its “core markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East”. The bank sees the tie-up with Liverpool as a “platform to significantly step up the Bank’s brand awareness” in those regions.
The bank’s logo will be seen on Liverpool’s shirts from next summer until summer 2014.
The statement also points out that Standard Chartered “ranks among the top 25 companies in the FTSE-100 by market capitalisation” and that it has “more than doubled its revenue and profits over the last five years and has performed consistently well, delivering record results throughout the recent financial crisis”.
Christian Purslow, the Reds new MD said: “This partnership brings together two highly successful organisations with a really strong cultural and strategic fit. The sponsorship opportunity attracted a huge level of interest from a wide array of globally recognised brands and in Standard Chartered we believe we have the ideal partner to move forward and help develop our global ambitions for the club. It is a real sign of the progress we have made at Liverpool that we have been able to secure the largest ever commercial deal in our history.”
Standard Chartered’s Group Chief Executive, Peter Sands, said: “This is a great partnership. We are excited to be working with such a famous global brand as Liverpool Football Club for the next four years. This is an outstanding opportunity for Standard Chartered, our customers and shareholders, and for Liverpool, its players and fans.
“We see many opportunities to continue growing our business, particularly as Asia, Africa and the Middle East are emerging from the global downturn more quickly than the West. This sponsorship will drive a step change in brand recognition in our key markets and will provide an additional catalyst for our business growth.”
Liverpool’s association with Carlsberg began at the start of the 1992-93 season and was last extended in summer 2007 with the current three-year deal. In recent years the use of sport to advertise alcohol has been increasingly discouraged, with a number of countries banning it completely. Liverpool supply their replica kits for children without the logo and adult shirts can be bought without a logo too.
As well as Carlsberg, Standard Life will follow Candy, Crown Paints and Hitachi as Liverpool shirt sponsors.