Barclays is taking its long-running association with the Premier League into extra-time by finalising a £31.5m deal that will reinforce the enduring commercial appeal of English football’s top flight.
Sky News has learnt that the UK-based lender has agreed a further three-year tie-up with the Premier League to extend one of the longest-running alliances in elite British sport.
The deal, which is due to be voted on at a meeting of the Premier League’s 20 clubs on Thursday, will represent a roughly 15% premium to the value of Barclays’ existing £9.25m-a-year sponsorship.
If approved by the clubs, it will see Barclays’ link to the league running until the end of the 2021-22 season.
The deal has been struck two years after the bank ended a long-standing association as the Premier League’s title sponsor, with a number of brands such as Nike, Cadbury and – from January – Coca-Cola having roughly equivalent sponsorship rights.
The Premier League rakes in more than £100m annually from its top-tier commercial partners, as well as billions of pounds more from domestic and overseas broadcasting rights.
Force leaders to debate on TV
60,000 people have signed our petition – have you?
The bulk of its UK rights are held by Sky News’ parent company, Sky, which is now a subsidiary of the US media group Comcast.
This week, it announced that Susanna Dinnage, a senior executive at the US media group Discovery Inc, would become its new chief executive, with its veteran boss Richard Scudamore retiring as executive chairman in the new year.
