English Premier League football club West Ham United has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal to make online gaming platform Betway its new principal sponsor.
The terms of the agreement – under which Betway becomes the team’s main shirt sponsor and acquires naming rights to the West Stand at West Ham’s Boleyn Ground – were not disclosed, although it is understood to be worth £20m (€26.5m/$30m) over the duration. The London club said it represents its “biggest-ever commercial deal.”
West Ham has seeking a shirt sponsor since foreign exchange trader Alpari announced the collapse of its UK operations last month. Alpari UK first partnered West Ham in 2011 and upgraded to become its shirt sponsor in February 2013. The agreement with the club, reportedly worth £3m per season, was due to run through the 2015-16 campaign.
Betway’s branding will feature on West Ham’s shirts for the first time when it hosts Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday. The deal is Betway’s maiden move into football sponsorship and sits alongside its naming partnership with the Professional Darts Corporation’s Premier League Darts and horse racing properties including the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Next season will be West Ham’s last at the Boleyn Ground before it takes up residence at the London Olympic Stadium. The club is currently eighth in the Premier League table.
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady said: “Like us, Betway are an ambitious, forward-thinking company and the size of the agreement reflects our status as one of the fastest growing brands in world football. Betway join us at one of the most exciting periods in our history and we will be working closely with them as we prepare to bid an emotional farewell to our home of more than 110 years before moving into our stunning new stadium in 2016.”