Red Bull verdict given as Leeds United's minority owners add more Premier League clubs to portfolio
Minority Leeds United owners Red Bull added two more Premier League clubs to their growing football portfolio in England. The soft drink company, who bought a stake in the Whites earlier this year as well as agreeing a lucrative front-of-shirt sponsorship for the 2024/25 season and beyond, have partnered up with West Ham United and Crystal Palace as the two London clubs' official energy drinks sponsor.
The move follows on from Everton and Newcastle United having also signed up to similar deals with Red Bull this summer. But football finance expert Stefan Borson doesn’t expect there to be any issues for United as sponsorship agreements can be separated from ownership deals.
He told Football Insider: "I think you can separate deals that are purely commercial deals from ownership deals. I think they are quite distinct. It’s hard to see how there would be a conflict in that.
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"I suspect some of those partnership deals are going to be quite low numbers, so it’s hard to see how that creates a conflict. It will probably be worth £1million or less than that per annum.
“I think it’s not really a conflict and probably not one that’s going to get too much attention. We will have to see, but I would suspect not.”
In a recent interview with The Square Ball Podcast, United chief executive Angus Kinnear said he hoped the agreement with Red Bull would lay down a marker to United's other commercial partners to potentially invest more heavily into the club in the future.