Emaar – the real estate development company – seems the most likely contender to become Newcastle United’s new front-of-short sponsor in the coming weeks. It could be quite a logical choice.
Last week The Times reported that the club had signed a £25m-a-yr sponsorship deal with a Middle Eastern entity outside of Saudi Arabia. Such cooperation will be possible thanks to relatively good geopolitical relations between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where Emaar has its HQ.
In recent years, Emaar has implemented several strategic projects in Saudi Arabia, which allowed for closer relations.
The owners of NUFC did not want the new sponsor to come from Saudi Arabia and be closely associated with them, which could undermine the deal. The company has a huge and integrated presence in global markets, represented by the ME, America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Despite its large scale activities and heavy presence in the global building market in Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and America, the availability of other barriers are visible. The company’s objectives and recommendation is to expand and extend its operations in order to continue enjoying large economy of scale through increased presence and size worldwide.
Considering the increased demand for housing in Saudi Arabia, the region is for sure an attractive market. The economic city has proved to be one of the biggest projects that Emaar has carried out in the region, with a lot of expectation among the projects stakeholders. Furthermore, the company has gained international recognition with the completion of Burj Dubai, the second tallest tower in the world today. This is a clear indicator of the company’s technical ability.
Additionally, Burj Dubai is rated the only building with vertical concrete pumping with the highest number of storeys in the world. Emaar’s presence in Saudi Arabia has been conspicuous in the recent past, having been the master developer of King Abdullah Economic City.
Working in close association with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the organization in charge of inward investments into the Kingdom and the facilitator of the City’s development, Emaar has been tasked with developing a state-of-the-art City.
This development is highly regarded by the Kingdom, considering the strategic location of the City; being north of commercially active Jeddah and provision of easy accessibility to the Holy Cities of Makkah as well as Madina.
Emaar Properties became the first Middle East property developer to make forays into the Chinese market, through their international expansion program. Its objective is to expand and extend its operations in many countries around the world in order to continue to enjoy large economy of scale. Saudi Arabia’s young real estate business provides the company with an opportunity for further expansion.
Interestingly, this is not the first such large sponsorship of a Dubai company in football. It is worth recalling that in 2019, Emaar became a sponsor on the front of the shirts of the Saudi tycoon Al-Hilal. The 5-year lucrative deal was worth around $16.5m (£13m) per season.
This was the largest shirt sponsorship deal in Saudi football history. However, the deal was prematurely terminated last year by mutual consent. It is not known what was the reason for this decision…
After the disappearance of the Emaar logo from Al-Hilal shirts, the club is promoting its own application called Blu, created with supporters in mind. What’s even more interesting, Al-Hilal decided to create an additional branch of revenue for the club by running his own real estate development business.
It is unlikely that a Qatari entity will sponsor Newcastle, despite the warm gestures towards Saudi Arabia we saw during the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
If the announcements are officially confirmed, next season we will welcome another sponsor from the UAE after Emirates and Etihad airlines. For Emaar, being able to promote on a Premier League club shirt to a global audience will help strengthen the company’s position especially in the Asian and US markets. In addition, entering the Premier League will be another stage of the rivalry between the two emirates, i.e. Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Emaar is based in Dubai, while rival real estate company in the Middle East, Aldar, is a global partner of Manchester City. The headquarters of Aldar Properties is Abu Dhabi, where the owners of Citizens also come from Sport Business.
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