Chelsea are outliers in multiple ways. Whether that’s having the youngest squad in the Premier League this season when weighted by minutes played, or their proactive transfer strategy, which has seen them already agree deals for four new young players to join next summer.
Chelsea also are the only Premier League side without a front-of-shirt sponsor, and sources at the club who spoke The Athletic — all of who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — believe their unusual approach will pay off.
The latest Football Money League report from Deloitte sheds more light on Chelsea’s revenues. Being one of only six Premier League clubs in the top 10 is a positive, and they have achieved that without a front-of-shirt sponsor. However, they are behind Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham.
While a lack of front-of-shirt sponsorship is not the only reason for this, the gap would be smaller if they had one. Chelsea’s commercial revenue — £201m for 2024-25 — sits more than £60m behind the above five clubs.
Sources at the club have indicated that talks with multiple parties are ongoing and they still expect to have something in place before the end of this season. Chelsea came close to an agreement with one company a few months ago, but complications arose and caused the deal to stall. They are still in talks with that same potential sponsor.
Chelsea sources say they have been considering two options: agreeing to a proposal for the rest of the campaign and then taking it from there, or a straight long-term deal. Naturally, which path they choose depends on the terms being right. But while fans and those on the outside question the lack of progress, people at the club remain relatively relaxed about the situation. They consider it only one part of their wider commercial strategy.
A sponsorship expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, says: “When sponsors are investing the kind of money that Chelsea would have expected over multiple years, they would have wanted to see some stability and assurance that the club will be competing at the highest level, both domestically and internationally.”
Under previous owner Roman Abramovich, Williams says, sponsors knew what they were getting into with Chelsea. “You were backing a club that you expected to be in the Champions League and competing for the top honours,” he says. “When Three decided not to renew, they went into a phase of quite high uncertainty.”
Manchester United’s sponsorship by Snapdragon is worth $75million per year (£56.1m at current rates)
Chelsea sources offered their perspective and talked through various other revenues that can help make up the shortfall from not having a front-of-shirt sponsor.
New hospitality is launching in the Millennium Suites at Stamford Bridge, which one source at the club said could be worth millions. Chelsea are also working on other sponsorships, such as for their training ground at Cobham. Arsenal’s London Colney facility is known as the Sobha Realty Training Centre for sponsorship reasons.
Chelsea are confident of hitting revenue goals for the commercial side in 2025-26. One source indicated there have been improvements to gate receipts, hospitality, digital and retail revenue. They also indicated that retail results, which have been behind other clubs, have improved. Not having the revenue from a front-of-shirt sponsor is not ideal, but other revenue streams mean the club are relaxed about the situation, and want to take their time to push for the deal they want.
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