Club settle dispute with top flight over associated party transaction rules
Manchester City are reportedly set to sign a mammoth sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways after backing down in their latest legal battle with the Premier League.
City had been challenging the Premier League amendments to the Associated Party Transactions (APT), but have now agreed not to take their arguments to a tribunal.
According to _[The Times](https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/premier-league-manchester-city-sponsorship-legal-apt-lj9hdvpld)_, the settlement will clear the way for City to renew their sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways, the state-owned national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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The Premier League has previously blocked the deal, believed to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, on the grounds that it does not represent a “fair market value” deal for Man City, a key consideration under APT.
But the club, which is owned by the UAE’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have now reportedly been assured that they will receive fair treatment in relation to any new deal.
“Manchester City accepts that the current APT rules are valid and binding,” a joint statement from the club and the league said.
However, City remain in dispute with the Premier League over the 130 alleged financial regulation breaches, a verdict on which is expected later this year.
This was the second time that City had challenged the league over APT, the rules which govern sponsorship deals between football clubs and companies also controlled by their owners.
The UAE-owned club were successful in their first challenge, when a tribunal ruled that the APT regulations were “void and unenforceable” earlier this year.
They then attempted to challenge the league’s amendments to those rules, and were due to go before a tribunal, before Monday’s statement confirming the matter had been settled.
The APT regulations were brought in after the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United raised fears that state-owned clubs could use their huge wealth and business empire to pay over the odds for sponsorship, and therefore circumvent financial rules around profit and loss.
Under the new APT rules, sponsorship deals with associated parties are assessed to ensure they meet “fair market value”, and are not being used as a vehicle for injecting cash into the club by the owner on another part of the balance sheet.
City already had a number of partnerships with companies based in the UAE, the biggest of which is their kit and stadium sponsor Etihad Airways, while Newcastle have since bagged a number of sponsors from Saudi Arabia, subject to assessment under APT.