Following today’s news (16^th December) that TeamViewer and Manchester United have agreed a termination of the front of shirt deal;

Conrad Wiacek, Head of Sport Analysis at GloblalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“While Manchester United are up for sale and have started to show improvements on the pitch, the lack of relative success makes Manchester United a far less attractive proposition than previously and with mounting debts, the club cannot afford to get the next partnership wrong. The early termination of the United/TeamViewer partnership is not a huge surprise given the fact that TeamViewer had already announced the decision to not renew the partnership four years ahead of its scheduled end date.

“What should be of greater concern to Manchester United, and the wider sports industry, is that this is now the second partner in a row to have expressed reservations about a premium front of shirt partnership with the club within months of signing. Chevrolet fired the person responsible for signing their front of shirt deal, and now TeamViewer investors have challenged the wisdom of entering into the partnership at $65.5 million per season, which suggests an issue with premium sports partnerships.

“For the wider industry, with an economic downturn forecast by many in 2023 and beyond, the ramifications could be significant with premium sports partnerships likely to become a less attractive means of customer engagement as brands tend to cut marketing spend in times of recession, with premium sports rights likely be seen as an effective means of cost saving.”