Sources: New Leeds United deal on the cards after £26m twist
Industry experts and Premier League clubs themselves expect the likes of Leeds United to sign shorter-term front-of-shirt deals as a knock-on effect of the new gambling sponsorship ban, Football Insider has learned.
The Premier League announced last week that front-of-shirt gambling advertising will be prohibited from the beginning of the 2026-27 campaign.
The embargo is on a voluntary basis but has materialised in the face of pressure from the government, who will outline plans for several new gambling reforms in a white paper in the coming weeks.
Sources have previously told this site that the government has no plans to lean on the EFL to introduce a similar ban.
Leeds – whose deal with SBOTOP began ahead of 2020-21 and will continue into the 2023-24 campaign – are one of eight Premier League sides with front-of-shirt gambling partners.
The alliance is believed to be worth in the region of £6.5m per year, or £26m over the full length of the four-year deal.
One industry insider, who has brokered several major sponsorship deals for Premier League and EFL clubs, has told this site that commercial directors now expect one-year front-of-shirt deals to eventually become the norm for certain clubs.
That is because gambling sponsorship will still be permitted in the EFL, where many clubs are liable to find themselves mid-sponsorship cycle.
Step-down clauses in front-of-shirt deals mean that, in many cases, the deals relegated clubs may be able to negotiate with gambling companies may be more lucrative than staying with their original sponsors.
One-year deals would give clubs the flexibility to squeeze the most cash out of their sponsorship inventory in either division.
That workaround will likely reinforce the view of many campaigners who argue that the new gambling ban is tokenism and will do little to counteract what they perceive to be the industry’s harmful impact.
In other news, Leeds United could now dodge £40m Jean-Kevin Augustin payout as new twist revealed.