With the ban of gambling brands featuring on the front of shirt deals in the English Premier League coming into effect;

Conrad Wiacek, Head of Sport Analysis at GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, offers his view:

“Front of Shirt (FOS) sponsorship in the English Premier League is projected to come in at around $504.22 million for the 2026/27 season, which is a 1.7% increase year-on-year (YoY), showing that the league is still commercially successful and a league that brands from numerous sectors want to associate with.

“While this increase is underpinned by Arsenal’s renewal with Emirates, the suggestion that the Premier League teams outside the ‘top 6’ would suffer because of the ban on gambling brands for front of shirt deals has been vastly exaggerated.

“The teams with gambling sponsorships generated $125.31 million last season, but with three of those teams now relegated (West Ham being the largest with a deal worth over $16 million), the like for like comparison shows that the eight teams still in the Premier League generated $101.85 million in sponsorship revenue, while those same eight teams will generate $90.55 million this season, with Sunderland yet to announce their FOS partnership.

“While this is an 11% drop in real terms, many industry experts suggested that this figure would be much higher. Should Sunderland’s shirt deal come in at anything around $10 million, then it would match last season’s revenue. While some clubs like Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Brentford have seen their deal values fall YoY, it does suggest that sectors outside of gambling were and are willing to pay significant funds for key inventory in the Premier League as proven by Everton who saw their FOS deal increase by 79%. This begs the question as to why Premier League clubs were so willing and eager to take funds from gambling brands, many of whom were not based in the UK.

“The Financial Services sector is responsible for $153 million of sponsorship revenue, with travel & tourism and technology delivering $224 million between them, with both Aston Villa and Everton replacing their gambling partners with new partners from these sectors.”