Tottenham to have two shirt sponsors next season
Tottenham Hotspur will wear Autonomy's branding on their shirts in Premier League matches next season and are in talks to find a separate sponsor for cup games, the club confirmed today.
The deal with software firm Autonomy is reported to be worth £20m but, unusually for a football club's kit sponsorship contract, it only covers Premier League matches rather than all competitions.
It means Spurs are set to take the unique step of having two different shirt sponsors, wearing a different brand on their kits during cup games.
Earlier this week speculation was mounting that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was weighing up the possibility of breaking up the club's shirt sponsorship package for the first time.
The unique move was confirmed today when the club announced the Autonomy deal on its website and said it was "in discussions with several brands" to sponsor its kits in the FA Cup, League Cup and European competitions
"We are delighted to have Autonomy as our new global partner," said Levy.
The idea of splitting sponsorship was met with a mixed reaction by The Drum's online readers earlier this week.
Neale Gilhooley warned that brands sponsoring Spurs in the cups might not get much exposure out of their outlay if the club was knocked out of the competitions in the early rounds.
But Matt Peden said it "is not only a great idea for Spurs' growing revenue stream, but for the PR and sponsorship industry as a whole".
If Spurs can attract another high-spending sponsor then splitting its package could prove very valuable indeed.
Whether it proves to be quite as valuable to the advertiser may all depend on the team's on-field fortunes next season.