Manchester United are looking for a new shirt sponsor after agreeing with Teamviewer that the current deal will come to a premature end.
The club issued a press release yesterday confirming what had been reported a few weeks ago: that the German technology company was withdrawing early from the deal.
“Following a period of private and collaborative discussions over the past few months, Manchester United and TeamViewer AG have reached a mutually beneficial agreement under which Manchester United will have the option to repurchase sponsorship rights to the forward. of the club’s shirt”, reads the club’s statement. .
“Having agreed their partnership with TeamViewer at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Manchester United will seize the opportunity to begin a focused sales process for a new front jersey partner in a normalized market.
“Once a new front-of-shirt partner is selected and assumes this role, TeamViewer will continue as a valued member of Manchester United’s global partner pool, providing Manchester United with remote connectivity solutions, until the end of the term. of the original contract in 2026.
“TeamViewer’s financial commitments to Manchester United remain unchanged for as long as they remain the club’s front-of-shirt partner, after which their financial commitments will reflect their global partner status.”
From Teamviewer’s perspective, the decision comes after investment firm Petrus, which owns a 10% stake in the company, “demanded that TeamViewer stop ‘bleeding millions’ and ‘quickly disengage from this mess’ related to the partnerships with United and Mercedes Formula 1”. as The Athletic reports.
The news isn’t so much an indictment of United’s status in world football as it is an acknowledgment by sponsors that they may have overreached by agreeing to the deal in the first place.
Teamviewer pays out a whopping £47 million a year despite only making an annual profit of around £43.5 million.
However, this is scant consolation for United, who now have to try to find an alternative sponsor at a time when their finances are already stretched and the club is up for sale.
Given these circumstances, it’s inevitable that any new deal will be worth much less than Teamviewer’s, which in turn was much lower than the previous deal with Chevrolet.
That seven-year deal was worth $599 million, roughly £70 million a year.
The good news for the Red Devils in this case is that Teamviewer will remain in place until a new sponsor is found, giving CEO Richard Arnold some breathing space to strike as lucrative a deal as possible.
And on the silver lining as far as fans are concerned, the news will put more pressure on United’s share price, reducing the value of the club and therefore potentially forcing the Glazer family to lower their asking price. . Anything that devalues ​​United right now could, for that reason alone, be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.
