Emirates Airlines’ US$157 million sponsorship of Arsenal guaranteed to be renewed

The Emirates Stadium. According to Arsenal's marketing director Angus Kinnear, "there is no element of architectural folly or ego in it. Everything is about delivering revenue." At the end of November last year, Arsenal announced half-year pre-tax profits of UK£35.2 million. 45 per cent of the club's total annual revenues of over UK£200 million are attributable to matchday takings at the Emirates, with the 9,000 premium seats in the middle tier of the three-tier stadium accounting for the same amount of revenue as did all 38,000 seats at Highbury put together.

Emirates Airlines' sponsorship of Arsenal Football Club "will doubtless be renewed" according to Emirates Airlines Group executive vice chairman, Sir Maurice Flanagan.

The 15-year deal with the English Premier League (EPL) club, which grants the national airline of Dubai the naming rights to the 60,355 capacity North London stadium as well as sponsorship of Arsenal’s playing shirts, is worth US$157 million and described by Sir Maurice Flanagan as being a "fantastic bargain."

"Annually it comes to around US$8 million. We measure the return on investment in terms of the worldwide value of the television exposure, using well-established criteria, incorporating all our markets.

"Arsenal are among the top two or three clubs in the English Premier League"

“The starting point of our sponsorship of the Arsenal shirt and stadium is that Arsenal are among the top two or three clubs in the English Premier League and so their matches attract world-wide attention.

“The coverage which they receive is global, which of course accounts for the Gulf market where their matches are widely viewed. We are very happy with it. For Emirates it is an extremely cost-effective way of maintaining worldwide exposure for brand Emirates,” he added.

Arsenal is unquestionably soccer club renowned for success on and off the field. While the club finished the 2009/10 English Premier League season third, the Emirates Stadium, designed by Populous and built by Sir Robet McAlpine and built in less than two years, ranked 21st in SportsPro’s 'The world's 30 most important sports venues' feature.

Signed in 2004, the agreement between the two organisations was, at the time, the biggest in English soccer history.