Pre-season has started, but Chelsea is still without a shirt sponsor. On Monday, the club was forced to launch new kits for the 2024/25 season with plain shirts on the front. This is a rare sight in modern football, where big clubs enjoy lucrative deals with global brands.
For most onlookers, this is yet another gaffe from the new American owners, who have had quite some serious missteps since taking on from Roman Abramovich last summer. But what exactly is going on with Chelsea’s sponsorship?
To give you a clear view of the entire saga, we’ll look at everything that has taken place. The article is based on our interview with football and online casino rank expert Benard Maumo from CasinoRank.
Three Deal Expires
Before the 2020/2021 season started, Chelsea penned a sponsorship deal with telecommunications company Three. The deal was worth £40 million a year and would run for three years. It never seemed like the deal would be renewed, with the company citing financial difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Brexit fallout.
In fact, the telco even asked to suspend its deal with the Blues last season due to then owner Roman Abramovich’s close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The deal would resume after the club was sold, but it officially expired after the 2022/23 season.
Chelsea’s Search for a New Sponsor
After Three’s announcement, Chelsea began looking for a new sponsor, hoping to secure a similar or higher amount of money. The club was confident that they had a strong appeal, given their recent success in winning the Champions League. However, this process has proven to be quite hard, given that it’s still ongoing.
Premier League Vetoes Paramount+ Deal
In June, Chelsea were in talks with Paramount+, the streaming service owned by ViacomCBS. The deal would have seen the streaming service become the Chelsea shirt sponsor, and it would be worth a reported £60m a year.
However, The Premier League vetoed the deal, citing Deed of License rules. According to Daily Mail, there were two reasons behind this rejection. The first is that NBC is the American company with rights to Premier League football. Chelsea being sponsored by Paramount+, a direct competitor of NBC’s Peacock streaming service, would jeopardize Premier League’s relationship with the US-based company.
Besides the potential issues with the broadcasting of the league in North America, the Premier League also had concerns that there would be a reaction from Premier League’s current UK broadcast partners.
Chelsea Linked With Stake Deal
In July, Chelsea was linked with Stake, an online casino and betting site that is also featured on CasinoRank. If it went through, the deal would have seen Stake become the main shirt sponsor at a cost of £40m. This would only be for a maximum of two seasons, as the Premier League will not allow gambling sponsorships from the 2025/26 season.
However, this news was met with a huge backlash from fans, which prompted the club to drop the talks. “Fans felt that this would paint the club in a bad picture, especially considering that the Premier League is in the process of disassociating itself from gambling,” says Maumo from Online Casino Rank.
Chelsea Lower Sponsorship Price
The pursuit for a new sponsor is yet to bear fruits, and the club is reportedly desperate to conform with FFP rules after the huge spending over the last year. And to make the process easier, DailyMail reports that the club has lowered the asking price to just £25m, all the way from £60m. This means that what the club lands will be significantly lower than the rivals. Last season’s league winners Manchester City enjoy a £67m deal from Etihad, United bank £47m from Team Viewer, Liverpool has a deal worth £50m a year, and London rivals Tottenham get £40m from AIA.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men kick off their pre-season in the US on July 19, and the club is hoping to have agreed a new deal by the time the league starts.