Sport, and in particular football has for a long time been first and foremost about the money, and keeping shareholders happy.
There have been a number of clubs coming up with innovative ways to stretch the sponsorship dollar, such as Swindon Town having one sponsor for home matches and another for away games.
It would appear that Manchester United are taking it to a whole new level, forming tenuous links with Asian businesses keen to be linked to the club and its global brand. United then cash in when they travel to Asia for their pre-season tours.
On Wednesday this week the club announced a three year regional sponsorship deal with Indian tyre company Apollo. The firm will now be Manchester United’s ‘official tyre partner’ in the UK and India.
This new deal sits alongside Mamee the club’s ‘official noodles partner,’ and Yanmar, United’s ‘official diesel engine partner.’
This is not a joke, these are genuine partners. One has to wonder what happens if a player is snapped eating another variety of noodles, or driving a porsche with continental tyres. In truth probably nothing as this is simply a new revenue stream for the club and one that they do not have to worry about until they head in to Asia.
