On January 12, 2011, the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer announced a four year, $12 million dollar deal with Mexican food conglomerate Bimbo. While the notion of prominent uniform advertisements is foreign in most American sports, MLS has embraced such sponsorships as an important source of revenue.

In a list dominated by NFL teams in which all 32 find a spot in the top 50 sports franchises, the pride of place goes to Man Utd with a valuation of $1.86 billion.

Utd is a branding behemoth and their AON shirt sponsorship is worth $32m over four years. Next year their Nike shoe merchandise will be renewed for $70m, an increase of $30m over their existing contract to expire in 2015.

Major League Soccer's Mid-summer classic went off in Harrison on Wednesday night before a (mostly) packed house at Red Bull Arena. We thought we would offer some random business observations on the pre-game festivities and the match itself. Prior to the game, the MLS sponsors were out in force, with an entire section of the stadium grounds devoted to the major MLS sponsors.

Talk surfaced the other day about possible ongoing negitiations between the FAs of Singapore and Malaysia. At the heart is the idea they send their young teams to play in the others' league. So Young Lions in Malaysia, Super League or Premier League, while Harimau Muda play in the SLeague.
I did a piece in Jakarta Casual TV a couple of years ago about the benefits of the Young Lions playing in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, the Manchester United Foundation and Aon joined together to host the first of five football clinics as part of the USA tour. About 30 Aon colleages from the Boston area joined with Manchester United players Jonny Evans, Gabriel Obertan and Anderson, coaches from the Manchester United Soccer School, and representatives from the Manchester United Foundation, including Foundation chief executive John Shiels, in giving approximately 50 Special Olympic athletes from Boston a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Manchester United sign £40m training kit sponsorship deal - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Manchester United have confirmed two new commercial partnerships, including an extension of their existing partnership with logistics firm DHL, who will be their first training kit sponsor.

The new four-year-agreement sees the DHL logo included on the Club's training kit worn by all first, reserve and youth team players during domestic competitions and builds on DHL's relationship behind the scenes at the club, who have been Manchester United sponsors for over an year and were the official sponsors for United's pre-season tour of the United States this summer.

Manchester United today posted record operating profits of £110.9million for the year ended June 30, 2011.

The club have also recorded a record revenue of £334.1million, an increase of £45million from last year and passing £300million for the first time. That £334.1million in revenue beat the previous record of £313m that Arsenal had previously announced.

Manchester United today posted record operating profits of £110.9million for the year ended June 30, 2011.

The club have also recorded a record revenue of £334.1million, an increase of £45million from last year and passing £300million for the first time. That £334.1million in revenue beat the previous record of £313m that Arsenal had previously announced.