The English Premier League (EPL) has refused to give Chelsea F.C. permission to sign a shirt sponsorship deal with Paramount Plus, after sharing concerns that the broadcast partners of the competition.
According to reports, the EPL move has surprised the football club, as the club’s officials had hoped to complete a sponsorship agreement estimated at a significant amount with the entertainment streaming service operator. Unfortunately, English Premier League bosses banned the potential deal saying that it would violate competition rules within the EPL, leaving Chelsea F.C. empty-handed.
The club, however, does not sit still and is rumoured to be in talks with the cryptocurrency gambling company Stake.com, regardless of the looming ban on gambling sponsorship agreements in the UK. Reportedly, Chelsea F.C. has been seeking to replace mobile network Three as a sponsor, after the company’s three-season partnership agreement ended this summer. The company preferred to sever its ties to the club after Chelsea’s former owner Roman Abramovich got subject to sanctions after Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine started in 2022.
According to media reports, the negotiations between Chelsea F.C. and Paramount Plus have already been at an advanced stage. Recently, the international streaming service managed to successfully agree on a deal with the Italian professional football club Inter Milan, with the football club already displaying the company’s logo on its shirts for the final of the Champions League competition with Manchester City F.C.
Chelsea F.C. Rumoured to Be Nagotiating Potential Sponsorship Contract with Stake.com
As mentioned above, the English Premier League bosses refused to give permission to the club to join forces with Paramount Plus, although the company and its services are not considered direct rivals to BT Sport and Sky Sports. According to them, such an agreement between the operator and the EPL club should not be allowed under the Deed of Licence – the contract between the club and the Premier League that covers a wide range of issues regarding media and broadcasting. As a result of their decision, Chelsea F.C. seems to be pushed into a corner, with less than two months left until the beginning of the new season.
So far, the bosses of the club have gotten in contact with a number of companies, including the German financial service operator Allianz. The online casino and sportsbook platform Stake.com, however, has emerged as a frontrunner for the next sponsor of Chelsea F.C. According to market experts, any deal with the company, which also offers cryptocurrency betting online, would have to be for a relatively short period of time.
The planned gambling sponsorship ban in professional sports, and football in particular, is set to come into effect in the 2025/2026 season, although gambling operators would be given the opportunity to continue to sponsor LED boards and football clubs shirts’ sleeves.
- Author
Daniel Williams
