Journalist Ben Jacobs has admitted on the Mouth of the Tyne YouTube channel that he expects Newcastle United to land new sponsorship deals over the next season or two.
Failure to land a big sponsorship deal for this season highlighted how far Newcastle have to go before competing with the top teams in England, although owners PIF have already brought in two new sponsors this year in Noon and Dr Cinik.
While they have managed to secure a lucrative sleeve sponsorship deal with Noon, their current deal with FUN88 is one of the worst financial packages in the Premier League, but Jacobs expects better deals to start emerging within the next 12 months.
Jacobs fully expects PIF to start landing sponsorship deals from the Middle East and North Africa over the next few seasons.
He said: “I think it’s been brilliant on the football side, for sure, and as far as the business and the commercial deals, they will, I think, still escalate – especially now we’re moving out of the pandemic, at least as far as sport is concerned and the market will pick up.
Will Newcastle land a new sponsor next season?
Yes!
No!
“I fully expect Newcastle over the course of the coming season or two to bring on board a variety of either international or Middle Eastern North Africa-focused partners, and of course, Saudi Arabia will be the main focus.
“Not just because of the majority owner, but in that Middle Eastern North Africa region, Saudi Arabia is the biggest market, and that is why Bein Sports were so intent upon fighting the piracy, because they’d lost about 33% of their business because everything in that region comes from Saudi Arabia.”
TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s sponsorship situation…
It was reported over the summer that Newcastle and FUN88 were in discussions over terminating the contract between the two parties, however, that wasn’t able to be agreed upon and now the Magpies will have to wait until next summer to land a new deal.
It only takes a quick glance at the sponsorship deals that a lot of the top six clubs have at the moment to show how important it is for sides to land such impressive deals, as it helps a lot when balancing the books and managing Financial Fair Play.
Given that Newcastle are 80%-owned by PIF, it would make a lot of sense for their main sponsorship deal next season to come from the MENA region or even Saudi Arabia itself, which could raise questions over links between such a deal and the ownership.