Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion has extended its main shirt and stadium naming rights partnership with payment services brand American Express in a club-record deal.
According to industry sources, the deal is worth more than £100m ($121m/€108m) over 12 years, or at least £8.33m per year – between five and six times the value of the current deal which has two more years to run.
It is understood that the current deal will be paid at an enhanced rate before the new 10-year deal kicks in from 2021-22 to 2030-31.
Speaking to SportBusiness Sponsorship this morning, Paul Barber, chief executive and deputy chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion, said the deal took 13 months to negotiate, and supports the club’s ambitions to become a top 10 Premier League outfit.
“We wanted to be with a brand that was going to support us through that journey, accepting that there are going to be ups and downs along the way,” said Barber. “American Express were very keen to buy into that vision.”
The commitment of club chairman Tony Bloom to the club’s long-term future was also key to the negotiations.
Barber said Bloom has put more than £250m of his own money into the club and has no interest in selling to an overseas buyer.
Read this: European Football Sponsorship Report 2018-19: Premier League
Under the new deal, American Express gets the following rights:
- Naming rights of the American Express Community Stadium
- Naming rights to the club’s American Express Elite Football Performance Centre
- Official shirt sponsorship rights to Brighton & Hove Albion, including the club’s men’s, women’s, development, youth and disability teams.
The deal includes specific and additional investment from American Express for women’s and girls’ football, reflecting their strong commitment to inclusion and diversity.
This includes naming rights to the women and girls’ football HQ, a new facility currently under construction at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.
American Express will also continue its work with Albion in the Community, the club’s official charity. American Express is one of the largest private sector employers in Brighton and Hove. It signed a naming rights agreement for the Amex Stadium in 2010 ahead of the official opening in 2011.
Since that time, the company’s partnership with the club has evolved to include official shirt sponsorship in 2013 and the Amex Training Ground’s naming rights deal in 2014.