Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills says that securing lucrative sponsorship deals is influenced by geographical location, with Spurs recent beneficiaries of being London-based.
Tottenham have been in collaboration with Asian insurance company AIA since 2013, and recently announced an extension between the two parties, lasting until at least 2027.
And Mills believes for all City’s successes on the pitch, other clubs’ locations leave them better placed to nail down certain deals in the sponsorship market.
City have recently ended a partnership with Nike, with manufacturers Puma replacing the US firm as the champions’ kit suppliers.
Speaking to Football Insider on the advantages Spurs enjoy being in London, Mills believes there is something in clubs’ respective locations, saying: “They’re London-based and that makes a big, big difference. It makes a huge difference, in fact, in terms of what companies want to be associated with around the world.
“I say that because Nike were happy to drop Manchester City, they want the Nike London beamed around, Nike Paris, Nike New York – all these types of things and that’s often a bigger part of these sponsorship deals.
“People are looking at it and thinking it’s an awful lot of money, I’m sure they can afford it. It’s prominence. Having the likes of Son Heung-min in there – let’s not forget they (AIA) are a Pan-Asian insurance company – who has won the Asian Cup and things like that, will help.”
Without wanting to accuse Danny Mills of needlessly moaning, the available finances at Manchester City (over £1bn invested solely from owner Sheikh Mansour since 2008) suggest the club and their owners won’t lose too much sleep over the recent disassociation with the American apparel giants.
The level of income is so vast in the Premier League (with nearly a total £2.5bn coming from television money alone) that these behind-the-scenes changes are probably unlikely to see any material changes to the footballing landscape.
It may, at best, be a mildly interesting observation from Danny Mills, which if nothing else looks like the former defender making a mountain out of a molehill. Would Spurs not swap their sponsorship deals for the three trophies City won last season?
