Manchester United’s Shirt Sponsors are Reportedly Close to Pulling the Plug

Software company TeamViewer is only into its second year as Manchester United’s primary shirt sponsor, but it looks like their partnership is heading towards a premature end.

TeamViewer had agreed to a five-year deal worth £235 million in 2021, but Petrus Advisers, an investment firm, has urged them to find a way of getting themselves out of this deal that has reportedly been at the root of a lot of financial downsides for them. It won’t be easy as the agreement between the two parties has a no ‘get-out’ clause. Manchester United are one of the giants of the English Premier League, and one of the most recognized brands in the world.

This brand size was, no doubt, one of the appeals for TeamViewer. Manchester United routinely do international tours in pre-season which takes associated brands far across the globe, and though they haven’t visited the USA since 2018, they have a sizable following in the country. There are officially-recognized fan clubs scattered across the country, and the club’s games draw a lot of betting activity from cities like Cleveland, for instance, where fans have access to a popular Bet365 bonus code Ohio uses exclusively.

Growth potential lured TeamViewer into the deal

It has been reported that TeamViewer was hoping that this deal would help them grow because of the growth in the tech industry in the last two years, but their forecasts did not consider that this might have just been a bubble. TeamViewer is a computer software that allows remote computers to get access to one another, and it is no surprise that a technology of this kind would’ve seen some growth during the rise in remote work. As a result, the company decided to make a splash outside of just the Manchester United deal. TeamViewer also sponsors the Mercedes F1 team, which Petrus has also advised them to pull out of.

The investment firm has repeatedly written a letter to TeamViewer, which hints that Petrus has been advising TeamViewer to pull off these deals for more than a couple of months now. The latest letter reportedly stated that the share price had declined by 26% in the last year.

The news of this development has, perhaps, not made the headlines as Manchester United have had to deal with a public confrontation with Cristiano Ronaldo that ended in the termination of his contract around the same time as Petrus’ communications. The Glazer family has also put the club up for sale since.

The premature end would be a significant hit to Manchester United

The TeamViewer deal was the second-biggest partnership for Manchester United after their partnership with Adidas, and it’ll be hard for TeamViewer to easily brush this aside. The onus is on them to take the action because Manchester United are under no pressure to end the deal.

Manchester United should have a lot of suitors happy to become their shirt sponsor, but all of that will be a bit complicated with the news of the Glazer family putting the club up for sale in recent weeks. There’s an air of uncertainty around the future of the club, which will make things that much harder for TeamViewer.