Chelsea could see new shirt deal blocked – Stefan Borson
Chelsea would likely see a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Infinite Athlete blocked by the Premier League if they looked to renew their agreement again for next season.
That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the West Londoners could find it difficult to push a deal through due to the associated party transaction (APT) rules.
Chelsea are at risk of starting next season with no front-of-shirt sponsor for a second successive campaign after their deal with Infinite Athlete has expired.
In September last year – two months into the season – the London giants struck a £40million per season deal with the US-based sports data company.
Under the agreement, Infinite Athlete is set to transition to a sleeve sponsorship deal for next season despite its logo featuring on the front of Chelsea’s shirts during their US summer tour.
Infinite Athlete don’t have funds for Chelsea shirt deal
But Borson doesn’t believe Infinite Athlete could sign up to another front-of-shirt deal next season due to the finances involved.
He told Football Insider: “It is possible, but I doubt Infinite Athlete will be the sponsor next season.
“I don’t think it would get through the current associated party rules. It depends how it would be structured.
“But they don’t have the money to pay £40-50million a year. I have said publicly that I don’t see how they were able to do it last season.
“But we don’t know how much they paid, we will see in the accounts when they come out in the early part of next year as to how much they probably did pay.
“The fact that they are carrying on as the front-of-shirt sponsor for the US tour is neither here nor there really.
“It’s the cost of printing it on the new kit as much as anything. It’s not available for sale anywhere. It’s probably not worth very much from a financial perspective.
“But I don’t think they have the need commercially to do another sponsorship deal for another year anyway.
“If they were to do it, I think it would be on a friendly basis as opposed to something that was agreed at arm’s length.”
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