EMIRATES has signed the largest-ever sponsorship
agreement in English football in a £100 million deal with
Arsenal.
The agreement hands Emirates naming rights over Arsenal’s
new £357 million 60,000-seat stadium for 15 years and shirt
sponsorship for eight years.
The Emirates Stadium, as it will be known, is currently under
construction and due for its first match in the 2006/07 season.
The deal dwarfs Emirates’ current sponsorship deal with
Chelsea, which runs out at the end of the season.
Contrary to press reports, it was Emirates’ decision not
to continue the deal rather than Chelsea’s chief executive
Peter Kenyon.
Emirates chairman HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said:
“Sports sponsorships provide an international platform to connect
with our customers. There is no greater vehicle for this than
through English football.”