According to a report in The Daily Mail, Chelsea FC are nearing a shirt sponsorship deal with aviation giants Turkish Airlines for £25 million a year. The current deal with Samsung, worth a reported £18 million year, is expiring at the end of the season and it does not appear that either party will look to extend it. Samsung has been ready to move on for several years but decided to extend their deal after Chelsea FC won the 2012 Champions League title.
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The deal with Turkish Airlines is still considerably behind some of the other deals in world football such as Manchester United’s deal with Chevrolet or Barcelona’s with the Qatar Foundation. Chelsea FC are on par, or far above, those clubs on the pitch but still do not have the same global presence as their more established rivals. This deal with Turkish Airlines will help the club in a number of ways including reaching a potentially untapped audience in one of the largest economies in Europe in Turkey.
Excerpt from the Daily Mail on the deal with Turkish Airlines:
"Chelsea are close to agreeing the second biggest Premier League shirt sponsorship ever with Turkish Airlines. A £25million-a-year deal is expected to be finalised by Christmas.The negotiations with the big spending airline, famous for its Lionel Messi and Kobe Bryant TV adverts, were first revealed by Sports Agenda last September.The money would be a significant advance on the £18m-a-year Samsung currently pay to have their name on Chelsea shirts and would propel the club above Liverpool and Arsenal in the PL shirt sponsorship table.Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wants his club — hot favourites to be crowned champions — to be as dominant on football’s commercial side as they are on the pitch.But the west London club, already deep in talks with Turkish Airlines before former Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow was brought in to revamp the commercial operation, still lag well behind Manchester United. The Old Trafford shirt sponsorship with Chevrolet, that began this season, is worth £53m annually.Source: The Daily Mail"
The Blues have already made inroads in to that Turkish fanbase by participating in a friendly against Besikatas and Fenerbahce to support victims of the Soma mining disaster. While it is a bit crass to assume they only did it for exposure but that was surely one of the benefits of squeezing in those friendlies at the end of the preseason.
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This deal is a step in the right direction for the Blues as they are pairing with a brand that has recruited high profile stars such as Lionel Messi and Kobe Bryant to endorse them. Turkish Airlines is a growing brand and perhaps they can become the next “Fly Emirates” of the shirt sponsorship world. Putting their logo on one of the best teams in England and Europe is a good place for them to start that journey.
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