Newcastle will be allowed Saudi Arabian sponsorship deals, Premier League decides

[Jammy89]

How generous of them. . .

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Newcastle United will be allowed sponsorship deals with Saudi Arabian companies as long as the Premier League considers them "fair market value".

On Tuesday Premier League shareholders removed the temporary block put on the club since its controversial takeover.

Clubs have been uneasy over the takeover, which prompted Premier League chairman Gary Hoffman to decide to step down at the end of January 2022.

The Premier League board will decide what is "fair market value".

There was a concern Newcastle could sign deals with companies closely aligned to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund that provided much of the finance for the takeover, and which would be used to inflate their spending capacity under Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

Analysis
BBC Sport's Simon Stone

The unhappiness within the Premier League around the Newcastle takeover will be tempered to some extent by this move.

However, what it has done is allow Newcastle the scope to start arranging their own commercial deals in line with their status as a newly-enriched club with roots in Saudi Arabia.

It will be fascinating to see whether deals such as Manchester City's with Etihad Airlines are done because they can be the trigger to inject millions into the club, creating a transfer budget from which Eddie Howe's squad can be improved.

Short term, Newcastle are in a relegation scrap. In the medium term, their future looks very bright.

One idea - to block all related commercial deals - was quickly discarded.

Instead, the Premier League has agreed that what are regarded as 'associated party transactions' will be allowed but subject to heavy scrutiny.

The Premier League board will take guidance from an independent external assessor on deals.

In addition, they will have access to a confidential data bank, created by the Premier League, which will accumulate previous commercial deals across the league to assess their value.

League chiefs hope this will prevent manipulation of FFP regulations.

It is understood Newcastle and Manchester City actually voted against the new rules, with questions about how "fair-market value" process will work in practice and whether the measures are too broad.

[Zippity]

The Premier League board will decide what is "fair market value".

The only sentence that matters, tbh.

And of course they'll make the judgement with a fair and even hand.

[trinitoon]

Oh, does that mean the others didn't side with Dr. EvilLevy now the January Window is getting closer? And they can sense Newcastle's need to splash the cash?

Load of rubbish all along. StayLovely would have sued the pants off for somebody had that makeshift embargo stayed in place.

[Jammy89]

Oh, does that mean the others didn't side with Dr. EvilLevy now the January Window is getting closer? And they can sense Newcastle's need to splash the cash?

Load of rubbish all along. StayLovely would have sued the pants off for somebody had that makeshift embargo stayed in place.

Exactly.

For all the ****e about not selling, we're desperate and loaded. . . music to every clubs ears.

[TANYA_]

this is utter dog shlt, the PL saying they are stopping clubs going from a 40m sponsorship deal to a 400m sponsorship deal.

Fair enough people say buuuuuut...........

the thing that alarms me the most is that you also get judged for approval of the deal based on past deals for the same rights.
MA paid us feck all for anything so how the **** can we progress.

We cant go from a 170k deal with SD to a 200m deal with an Arabian company

*facts and figures may not be correct, i took half a day at work

[toptoon]

How very f**king gracious of them.

When you consider the number of clubs in the PL who are where they are because of financial muscle then it’s clear to see the ‘one rule for us and another for you’ attitude.

But when you remember the super league fiasco, the attitude from those 6 clubs is totally laughable and the principal behind this idea is the same as that behind the super league (ie. feathering nests at the expense of sporting integrity).

Don’t worry though, they are clearly sh*tting themselves and the monster THEY created in English football will see us OK.

On a happier note I was at the ground today for the first time in 4 years. Brought a tear to my eye looking up at Bobby’s statue, realizing Ashley’s gone and the hope that has returned.

HTL.

[Jammy89]

Apperently Man City and Us have already instructed lawyers to start proceedings on basis of stiffling market competition.

[toonviking]

Apperently Man City and Us have already instructed lawyers to start proceedings on basis of stiffling market competition.

Where did you read that, Jammy?

[Jammy89]

Admittly it was from the mag - on twitter but still, here is article:

Newcastle United consulting lawyers after Premier League clubs vote to restrict commercial deals

On Tuesday, Premier League clubs finally voted on new rules concerning related party sponsorship deals.

A temporary ban had been put in place on such deals in October as Premier League clubs reacted to the Newcastle United takeover.

The other clubs looking to make it as difficult as possible for the new Newcastle United owners to start the recovery process after the damage done by a decade and a half of Mike Ashley neglect.


Yesterday’s vote now allows Premier League clubs to once again sign up deals with related parties BUT with conditions attached.

Newcastle United and Manchester City voted against these new regulations and The Mail report that both clubs are now consulting with their legal teams, as they consider taking legal action.

The two clubs consider the new rules to be anti-competitive and open to conflicts of interest.

The new rules mean that all new commercial deals need to be submitted to the Premier League Board for approval, and


How it is supposed to now work, is that an ‘independent’ company will decide whether any proposed deal is of fair market value.

This ‘independent’ company given access a database of all deals at the other Premier League clubs, to then determine if they think is artificially high.

How The Mail illustrate it working with regards to NUFC is…’A shirt sponsorship deal or stadium naming rights deal involving Newcastle, for example, would have to be of a similar level to those paid to the likes of Everton, Aston Villa or Leeds United. Newcastle argue this is anti-competitive however, and have the support of City.’

Meanwhile, The Telegraph reported on what had happened and been said at and around the meeting of Premier League clubs, saying: ‘Among Newcastle’s objections were that the associated party rules were, one source said, an “administrative nightmare”. For instance, they limit the size of commercial deals but not the number of those deals that could potentially be signed.’


I think that pretty much sums this all up, an ‘administrative nightmare’ in terms of actually monitoring the deals. It seems to me like a classic case of these Premier League clubs sitting around and making rules up that in theory sound easy to implement BUT in practice, will be a complete (impossible?) nightmare.

The Telegraph also report that: ‘Newcastle raised concerns about the practicability of anonymising data. It is understood that they also questioned whether the Premier League, which competes for commercial partners itself, sometimes in competition with its clubs, could have an unfair advantage.’

The 18 Premier League clubs (not Newcastle and Man City) have certainly made it difficult for the new Newcastle United owners to make commercial moves as quickly as they may have liked. However, whether this stands up longer-term remains to be seen, with clearly so many Premier League clubs acting together, specifically against one, at the most, two clubs.

The Premier League cartel may have won the battle but it remains to be seen whether they will win this particular war.

[toonviking]

Thanks. Will be interesting to see how this one pans out.