Liverpool strike sponsorship deal with world-iconic company as £336m prediction made

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Liverpool’s renewed commercial partnership with Coca-Cola is the tip of the iceberg as Fenway Sports Group continue to monetise the club’s global appeal.

Tonight, Liverpool host Real Madrid at Anfield in the Champions League. As well as a meeting of sporting superpowers, the match will also be contested by two clubs boasting combined commercial income – that’s revenue from sponsorship, retail and events – of £731m.

In their 15 years on Merseyside, FSG have nurtured the club’s commercial department and brought in £2.3bn, all of which has been reinvested in Liverpool. In 2010-11, revenue from this source was £77m. In 2023-24, the last published financial year, it was £308m.

That’s a compound annual growth rate of around 11.25 per cent. Even in the grand sweep of football finance, where turnover is booming across the board, it is a quite remarkable markup.

The alchemy of Fenway Sports Group is that, apart from investment in infrastructure, the financial growth has been achieved with zero financial help.

While the vast majority of Premier League clubs rely on owner handouts, Liverpool are a self-sustaining and growing organism. That is reflected in their value as a business, which is variously estimated at between £3bn and £4.5bn, up from around £300m when John Henry and Mike Gordon first pitched up in L4.

The two latest sponsorship deals are a renewal with soft drinks behemoth Coca-Cola and a new global partnership with American software company Trimble.

Industry sources have told TBR Football that the multi-year Coca-Cola deal, which was announced yesterday, is likely to be worth in the mid seven-figure range. And the timing of the reveal, on the eve of Liverpool’s most high-profile match so far this season, was not incidental.

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The Trimble partnership meanwhile will see the Nasdaq-listed firm aid the redevelopment of the club’s academy – including a new full-size indoor pitch, an outdoor pitch with stands, and new medical and sports science amenities – through their 3D modelling software.

“Trimble’s technology and expertise will play an important role in how we continue to evolve our facilities to meet the needs of the modern game – starting with the redevelopment of our Academy,” said Liverpool’s chief commercial officer Ben Latty.

“Innovation has always been central to the club’s approach, and this partnership brings a fresh perspective to how we design and deliver spaces that support our players, staff and fans. We’re delighted to welcome Trimble to the LFC partnership family.”

In his Vanity, Sanity and Reality newsletter, the respected football finance analyst Greg Cordell has forecasted that Liverpool will post commercial income of £336m when they release their accounts for 2024-25 in the spring.

The Premier League title triumph sparked a commercial boom and a £2m bonus payment from Nike, while Liverpool extended their partnership with AXA on improved terms. Lucrative new deals with Japan Airlines, Husqvarna, Strauss and Lucozade helped move the needle too, as did the club’s return to the commercial mecca of the United States for pre-season after a five-year absence.