Reports say Man City has now signed a new sponsorship deal worth £1.5 billion in the decade since reaching a settlement with the Premier League.
Citizens were caught up in a legal battle with the Premier League, claiming that the regulations were “illegal.”
The APT rules are designed to ensure commercial transactions or player transfers between clubs and entities that have links to club ownership, preventing club revenue from artificially inflated.
However, in September, both Man City and the Premier League became “settlements” over APT rules with “agreement to end the lawsuit.”
A Man City statement in early September stated, “The Premier League and Manchester City FC have reached a settlement in relation to the arbitration launched by the club earlier this year regarding the Premier League’s Related Party Trading (APT) rules, and as a result, the parties agreed to end the lawsuit.
“This settlement will end the dispute between the parties over the APT rules. As part of the settlement, Manchester City accepts that the current APT rules are valid and binding.
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“Neither the Premier League nor the club agree that they will comment further on this issue.”
And now, football insiders argue that Man City is locked in a sponsorship agreement worth up to £1.5 billion with state-owned Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airlines after the contract was first blocked by APT rules in 2023.”
Former Man City Financial Adviser Stefan Borson explained how much the deal is worth to citizens through indexing.
Bourson told Football Insider:
“I know that the city is doing business because Etihad wore a shirt last season. It’s on the shirt this season and the stadium is still called Etihad. I know they did the first few years of this 10-year contract that was put into the Premier League in 2023.
“Then, from what we can gather from the initial APT decision, the transaction is that we have an escalator every year. So let’s start for a discussion of all rights for £100 million a year. There are a lot of rights involved here.
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“In fact, I think this is one of the city’s arguments. That other clubs don’t have that comprehensive contract. Other clubs don’t have kits, stadiums, training complexes, and all other sponsors.
“Suppose it was 100m. It’s added every year. It’s indexing at 5%, and it’s up 5% each year. It’s the same as in the first year, so we’re trying to get the annual average under real terms, so by the 10th year, we’ve been indexed, which means we’re up to £150 million.
“Well, if what happens in a contract appears to be happening later, if there is some sort of mechanism in which certain intellectual property rights grow at a certain percentage, I don’t know what these IP rights are, but this was what the Premier League said you did too much.
“At the very top and bottom of that, I think new contracts that cost over £1.5 billion over a decade, all indexing is compound and everything else.”
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