West Ham have the chance to strike a deal that could be worth £104m to them in the coming years, according to expert analysis.
Few teams in the Premier League have performed as well as the Hammers financially in recent years.
They are expected to break even in the three years up to 2023-24, which will give new manager Julen Lopetegui the funds for a major revamp of his squad if the owners choose to bankroll it.
While prize money and enhanced matchday income from their recent European campaigns has played a big part, their commercial operation has also reached new heights in the last two seasons.
Their biggest individual deal is with Betway, which is worth £10m per year and is due to expire at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
And if the latest study is to be believed, the East London club could theoretically double that figure and then some when it is next up for renewal.
West Ham could strike £26m-a-year sponsor deal
According to industry experts The Sponsor, West Ham could conceivably bank as much as £26m per season from a front-of-shirt deal.
Extrapolated out over a four-year deal, which is the industry average for a club of West Ham‘s stature, the would be worth a whopping £104m.
The Sponsor arrived at the £26m-a-year figure by benchmarking against the Premier League‘s Fair Market Value criteria, which is designed to stop club’s signing artificially inflated sponsor deals for FFP purposes.
Club vice-chairman Karren Brady, who recently jetted out to the Middle East to court potential new investors in the club, has already said that they have contacted several partners with a view to a new deal.
The deal with Betway cannot be extended past 2025-26 because of new curbs on front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship in the Premier League.
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Naming rights could further boost West Ham’s sponsor cash
The Irons’ main commercial deals are currently the Betway front-of-shirt deal and the kit partnership with Umbro, which is believed to be worth in the region of £7m annually.
West Ham are also set to announce a new sleeve sponsor in Quickbooks, who will replace JD in a deal likely to be worth around £2m per season.
But one of the most lucrative elements of the sponsorship portfolio is still up for grabs: the naming rights for the London Stadium.
The Hammers have long had a somewhat frosty relationship with the London Stadium landlords, who would be entitled to the first £4m of a naming rights deal plus 50 per cent of any excess.
But the exits of a number of key figures from the body responsible for running the publicly-funded stadium could pave the way for them to strike a deal worth up to £120m over 10 years.