Inter Milan have hailed on their website that Pirelli have agreed to continue their shirt sponsorship of the Serie A side for another five years.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Inter will receive €9m a season plus a series of bonuses depending on performance.
Putting those bonuses to one side, Inter then will receive €45m over the five years. That translates into £24m over five years for the three time European Champions,or £4.8m a season. In today’s world that is a pittance.
By comparison, 12 teams in the Premier League will earn more than Inter will this season for shirt sponsorship. They are:
- Man United – Chevrolet – £47m
- Chelsea – Yokohama – £40m
- Arsenal – Fly Emirates – £30m
- Liverpool – Standard Chartered – £25m
- Man City – Eithad – £20m
- Tottenham – AIA – £16m
- Newcastle – Wonga -£6m
- West Ham – Betway – £6m
- Everton – Chang Beer – £5.3m
- Aston Villa – Dafabet – £5m
- Sunderland – Bidvest – £5m
- Crystal Palace – Mansion – £5m
Serie A sides, except for Juventus, are in the vicious cycle where they are falling behind the other top European leagues in terms of revenue.
Attendance continues to be an issue in Italy, which has a significant impact on the revenue of every club. TV revenue for Serie A is third out of the big five in Europe, trailing Spain and England. But the distance between the Premier League and Serie A continues to widen with the lowest team in England taking in more than the top team in Italy, at least for domestic rights.
But it is commercial sales, like Inter’s shirt sponsorship deal that really highlights the gulf between Italy and the rest of Europe.
According to UEFA, the Premier League clubs take in a combined €1.04B in commercial revenue. Germany is second with €943m, France third with €634m, Spain fourth at €470m and Italy fifth at €407m.
It makes it difficult to compete for best players when you cannot afford to sign them and that is the issue that Inter, and Serie A, has the moment.