Liverpool have achieved a 'significant rise' in the value of their main sponsorship deal after current front-of-shirt sponsor Standard Chartered extended its agreement with the club by a further four years.
The financial services company has been Liverpool's main sponsor since first signing up in 2010 and the value of the deal has grown significantly since with the most recent renewal in 2018 worth around £40m per year to the club..
The current deal was set to expire at the end of the 2022-23 campaign and, while Liverpool had numerous discussions with other firms from a variety of industries, they and Standard Chartered, who had an option to extend the partnership, have committed to a further four years that will take the total length of the deal to 17 seasons, up until 2026-27.
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There has been no official value placed upon what the new agreement is worth but the ECHO understands that, having had conversations with other prospective sponsors in a bid to find the current strength of the market and where the value of their sponsorship should lie in comparison to rivals at home and abroad, the Reds have received a major uplift to achieve their goal of ensuring that they are on par with the very biggest clubs.
"It’s fantastic news," Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan told the ECHO. "We are incredibly happy to renew with Standard Chartered. It has been a great relationship. We are entering our 13th season as partners with them and this will take us to 17. We couldn’t be more happy to renew with them.
"They have been an incredible part of our success over the course of the last 12 years when they have been our main partner. The relationship is incredibly strong. There was a significant amount of interest from other parties, even given the financial issues that are going on in the world right now. We had a number of positive conversations with various parties, but ultimately from our perspective we had to make the right decision for the club and the right financial decision, and renewing with Standard Chartered is the right one.
"Our long-standing strong relationship with them definitely played a role in renewing with them. When we looked at our various options, we considered them individually. And the relationship we have with Standard Chartered, along with the security in terms of their business and their history, were both important.
"The value of the new deal reflects the progress of the club both on and off the pitch. We are very happy with where we have ended up. The investment is incredibly important.
"There are tremendously aligned values between the two organisations. In addition to the financial support, which is incredibly important obviously – we have long spoken about the sustainable nature of the club and the necessity for us to generate revenues to invest back into the team – we also do quite a bit off the pitch with Standard Chartered, from the charitable organisations they support and them also supporting our Foundation."
Standard Chartered had been keen to extend as soon as Liverpool opened up the floor for the next sponsorship deal from 2023, remaining in the driving seat throughout the process. The Reds invited expressions of interest in one of world football's most prominent partnerships in a bid to find out how strong the market was in 2022 post pandemic, having last engaged in it for the front of shirt deal four years ago. They spoke with firms from the tourism and travel industry, media, electronics and emerging markets such as blockchain and cryptocurrency, before it was decided that the existing arrangement would continue, albeit at a much higher value to the football club, which was part of the reason for their discussions earlier in the summer.
It is the first major deal for new commercial director Ben Latty, who returned to the club earlier this year following the departure of Matt Scammell to Formula E. The attention of Latty and his commercial team is now likely to turn to realising an uplift in the club's shirt sleeve sponsorship deal, currently held by Expedia and valued at £10m per season, with the current contract expiring at the end of this coming season.
Bill Winters, group chief executive for Standard Chartered, said: “When we partnered with Liverpool FC in 2010 we could not have imagined the success of both the partnership and of the club. Liverpool FC has been a true partner and, as one of the world’s best-known football clubs, we are proud to be associated with them. We are delighted to be continuing our partnership for the next four years and look forward to building on our already successful relationship.”
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