Tottenham extend AIA shirt sponsorship deal through 2022

Get used to red letters on the front of Tottenham Hotspur home shirts for the foreseeable future. The Standard is reporting today that Tottenham Hotspur have extended their shirt sponsorship deal with Hong Kong based insurance group AIA for another five years through the 2022 season.

Terms of the deal beyond the contract date extension weren’t released, but the Standard notes that the agreement is an improvement over the £16m per year that Spurs receive from AIA at the moment.

Daniel Levy released this statement after signing the renewed agreement:

“The renewed partnership with AIA comes at a significant time in the club’s history, with a new world-class stadium currently under construction. We will look to further support the objectives of both organisations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Aaaaaaand now the post-season trip to Hong Kong makes sense! Asia is a huge market, and Spurs have made a couple of trips to Hong Kong in the past, but I completely failed to make the connection that AIA was a Hong Kong based company.

There aren’t many fans that are thrilled about Spurs having big red letters on the front of their home kits, but at some level I think we all understand that the game is about money. And frankly, AIA is a significantly less onerous sponsor than, say, Wonga.

At £16m/year, Spurs’ old contract with AIA was the sixth largest shirt sponsorship deal in the EPL, well behind Manchester United’s deal with Chevrolet (£53m/year) and Chelsea’s deal with Yokohama Tyres (£40m/year). With an expensive stadium on the way and the pressure to compete for Premier League titles on a much smaller budget, the increased revenue will be good news for Spurs’ bottom line, even if the red sponsor turns a few people off.