· 9 September 2025, 14:30
**Manchester City took the Premier League to a tribunal over what they deemed to be unlawful rules around Associated Party Transactions, with the club coming away with a significant victory.**
The Premier League had to amend their rules, which relaxed the laws around sponsorship from companies that share ownership with a club.
Despite the changes, Manchester City weren't happy with what they had done and raised another challenge.
It was announced yesterday that both parties had agreed on a settlement in the case, and now Manchester City could finally take advantage of their ties with Etihad with a sponsorship deal worth £1bn.
> [](https://twitter.com/martynziegler/status/1965075554069368944)
Associated Party Transaction rules were brought in to prevent Newcastle United from skirting PSR
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This could be great news for Newcastle United, who could now have the PIF's vast portfolio of businesses available for sponsorship opportunities.
The APT rule was swiftly brought into the Premier League in the wake of Newcastle's PIF-backed takeover to prevent such a thing from happening, but now it looks as though the Premier League may be powerless to stop it from happening.
Given that Newcastle don't have a training kit or stadium sponsor, this could potentially be huge.
Sponsors have more scope to dictate what a deal is worth in order to get it passed through
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The tribunal panel have agreed that a sponsorship is worth whatever the sponsor deems it to be, as each deal is different, with [The Times reporting:](https://www.thetimes.com/article/77403fa0-0386-42d3-8608-63e510e6665d?shareToken=f2c147ad8a9b8e2f958a9d0e783bbe3a)
> "The panel had been impressed by a sponsorship expert “who gave evidence of the long-term benefits of the partnership between Etihad and a club owned by a senior figure in the same country, namely His Highness Sheikh Mansour, and pointed out that a sponsorship deal is not a homogenised product like milk”.
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> "Another pointed out that “some sponsors may wish to pay a premium because they wish to benefit from a geographical connection between them and the rights to be sponsored” and that “brands based in Abu Dhabi wish to affiliate themselves with MCFC”."
This means that Saudi business could now say that the value of having a partnership with NUFC could bring could be well in excess of what they pay, and the Premier League would more likely than not have to accept that.
It's probably not as simple as that, but this is still a huge step in the right direction, and we may see Newcastle try to take advantage of this soon.