Guinness makes £52m first move into football with new Premier League deal

The Premier League has agreed a four-year deal with the brewing giant Guinness to be its “official beer” and new global partner, worth around £52 million in total, Telegraph Sport understands .

The deal with the global beer brand’s owner Diageo was presented by the Premier League executive to the clubs at this month’s AGM and it was agreed to push ahead. Budweiser, owned by Anheuser Busch In-Bev, has previously been a Premier League sponsor and is replaced by Guinness on this new deal

The Premier League, among clubs and executive, has decided not to pursue a title sponsor since 2016 when the last deal with Barclays came to a close – a move which was felt to have strengthened its brand around the world. Barclays are also expected to renew as one of the league’s official partners.

In its most recent financial results for the 2022-23 season the Premier League distributed £188.4 million from its commercial deals equally among the clubs, at £9.4 million each.

The Premier League treads a fine line between negotiating the kind of deal that benefits the 20 clubs without taking up the kind of deals clubs would wish to agree individually. The commercial earnings of the league are the only central funds that are still divided equally among the 20.

The Premier League briefed the Guinness deal to clubs and executives on Wednesday. It is the first for the Guinness brand in football. Diageo had previously used the Guinness brand as a sponsor in rugby union where it was associated with the Six Nations and the top-flight Premiership.

Guinness announced in December that it was expanding its sponsorship of the Six Nations rugby championship to include title naming rights of its women’s competition, in a deal that is currently due to run until 2028.

Budweiser is now more closely associated with its own premium naming rights competition, the FA Cup. Guinness will use the deal to promote its traditional drink and also its non-alcoholic version.

The Premier League has digital gaming giant EA Sports as its current lead partner. Barclays, Castrol, Hublot, Oracle and Nike are the current official partners. Barclays is expected to be renewed as the official banking partner.