A New Landscape in Football Sponsorships

The relationship between gambling operators and English football is entering a new era. A reported £20 million Betway training kit deal with Manchester United has shone a light on the operational reality of gambling sponsorships in the Premier League. 

On this episode of the iGaming Daily podcast, host Fernando Noodt is joined by iGaming Expert Editor Joe Streeter and SBC News Editor Ted Orme-Claye, to unpack what this deal signals for the industry.

A New Reality

Betway’s parent company, Super Group, is reportedly set to pay around £20 million to become Manchester United’s training kit partner from the 2026/27 season. 

This comes as the Premier League starts its self-imposed ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships on regular kits during this season. The Manchester United deal therefore reflects the new operational reality that gambling operators looking to maintain associations with these top clubs need to consider.

“They’re not breaking any rules,” said Orme-Claye, “From the next season, Premier League clubs will not be allowed to have front-of-shirt sponsors in betting, but they’re allowed sleeves, they’re allowed LED advertising around the perimeters and they’re allowed training kits.”

Experts had predicted that the shirt ban would inflate the value of alternative sponsorship assets, but the most recent data shows that that doesn’t appear to be the case. 

Streeter noted Betway’s fee sits broadly in line with comparable deals, likening it to Betano’s Aston Villa deal, Manchester United’s previous blockchain training kit sponsor, and Liverpool’s arrangement with Axxes – none of which suggest a dramatic price surge.

That said, Streeter was bullish on the deal’s strategic value, particularly in a fragmented media landscape. “The front-of-shirt sponsor is around three times the value of the training kit sponsor… to me that makes the training kit such good value,” he argued, “We see clips shared on social media all the time, we see the manager’s press conference in the training kit. The exposure from this deal is so good.”

The bigger question, yet to be answered, is whether the industry can exercise restraint. 

Streeter issued a pointed warning: “If we go into next season and every sleeve in the Premier League has a betting brand on it and 15 of the 20 stadiums are named after betting operators, that public friction and lobbying is going to return. The industry can’t take too much of an aggressive approach to these sponsorships.”

Orme-Claye echoed that sentiment, noting that pressure from reform advocates, such as Liberal Democrat peers during the development of the Football Governance Bill last year, and fan groups have never really gone away, and could easily be reignited by a perceived overstepping by gambling operators.

Both were in agreement however, that football and gambling are unlikely to ever fully part ways. As Streeter put it: “The relationship between them is such a culturally intertwined one that I don’t think it ever will end.”