Man Utd Strikes £80m Aon Shirt Deal
Manchester United has signed a new four-year shirt sponsorship deal with insurance giant Aon Corporation in a contract thought to be worth £80m to the Premier League champions.
The new deal, which begins from the start of the 2010/11 season, will see Aon replace troubled US insurer AIG, which is restructuring itself having received a £109bn bail-out from the US government.
Aon is based in Chicago and specialises in reinsurance, which is the selling of insurance to other insurers. The firm is hoping that its relationship with United will help improve its global brand recognition outside of the US.
AIG paid £14m a year for its four-year deal, which ends in May 2010, with Aon reportedly paying as much as £20m a year, making the deal the richest such domestic club association in the world.
AIG announced that it would not be taking up an option of renewing its deal late last year just prior to receiving its multi-million pound government bail-out.
It was thought that United was pushing to replace AIG a year earlier to bring a new sponsor in for next season in exchange for a compensation fee but the troubled US financial services brand’s logo will remain as the club’s shirt for the 2009/10 season.
