Liverpool FC is in talks to land a shirt sponsorship deal that could fetch a record $100 million per year, starting with the 2023-24 season.

The Premier League club’s current deal with British bank Standard Chartered ends at the end of the 2022-23 season. Standard Chartered originally paid Liverpool an estimated $25 million annually after it took over shirt sponsorship rights from Danish brewery group Carlsberg in 2010. 

• Liverpool is in talks with finance, crypto, media, electronics, and travel companies.
• Standard Chartered, which inked a four-year, $201 million extension in 2018, is reportedly in talks to extend their deal once again.

Being the shirt sponsor of Liverpool, a club that is valued at $4.1 billion, stands to be a lucrative venture. The team, which has the best-selling shirt in all of soccer, projects shirt sales to surpass 2 million for the first time this season.

Top Deal in Soccer 

Liverpool, owned by Fenway Sports Group, would reset the market with its potential new sponsorship deal. The club would surpass La Liga’s Real Madrid, which has a deal with airliner Emirates worth $83 million a year from the 2017-18 season through 2021-22.

Manchester United ranks just behind Real Madrid, with a deal with TeamViewer worth $65 million a year. Its deal with the German computer software company runs from 2021 through 2026.

MGM Resorts International has exceeded expectations and generated $2.9 billion in revenue in Q1 2022, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $2.7 billion in revenue. 

The hospitality, entertainment, and gaming company continues to rebound from the pandemic. 

• MGM’s gaming and casino segment posted $1.4 billion in revenue during the quarter.
• It reported a net loss of $18 million in Q1 2022, compared to $332 million in Q1 2021. 

The Las Vegas-based company also announced it has offered roughly $607 million to acquire Swedish online gaming company LeoVegas AB, expanding MGM’s market position in Europe. 

LeoVegas has until August 2022 to accept MGM’s offer. The company, which offers casino and sports betting in Sweden, Malta, and the Canadian province of Ontario, generated $104 million in revenue in Q1 2022, a 2% increase year-over-year, behind 455,843 customers during the quarter. 

A strong start to fiscal 2022 was paramount to MGM as it prepares to acquire The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas from New York-based investment firm Blackstone Group for $1.6 billion.

Commitment to Sports Betting 

BetMGM, a 50-50 joint venture between MGM and European gambling company Entain, will see around $450 million invested in the online sports betting platform this year.

The fresh capital will be allocated toward growth into new markets and new products. BetMGM, which has yet to reach profitability, projects to pocket $1.3 billion in revenue in 2022.

In April, the NFL submitted a request in court to settle the lawsuit brought by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores privately in arbitration.

In a court hearing on Monday, Flores’ lawyer, Doug Wigdor, provided a scathing reaction to the request, calling arbitration “unconscionable.” 

• NFL rules require the final decision in an arbitration to be decided by commissioner Roger Goodell. 
• Flore’s lawyer said the plaintiffs would want time to prove that Goodell wouldn’t be able to be objective in an arbitration ruling. 

It makes sense that the NFL would want the suit, which alleges racially discriminatory hiring practices, to be settled out of the public eye.

The discovery process leading up to a trial could potentially yield more damaging information against the league. Flores’ original complaint included several explosive allegations of its own, including being offered $100,000 for every loss.

Lawsuit Background

Flores, who is Black, was fired from the Dolphins the day after the 2021 season finished — and after winning eight of his last nine games. Flores had a record of 24-25 over three seasons.

He filed the suit in February and was soon joined by former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks and assistant Ray Horton.

Flores, 41, is currently a defensive assistant/linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Callaway’s TravisMathew brand is well-known for its men’s clothing and golf apparel, but on Tuesday the company unveiled something new: a women’s line.

TravisMathew was acquired by Callaway in 2017 for $125.5 million, and before Tuesday, counted around 30% of its customer base as women buying products for men — and women on golf courses hit 25% last year, up from 19% 10 years ago.

Director of women’s product Lindsay Browder told Front Office Sports the company saw a gap in the market sparked by the pandemic — elevated casual wear.

• The new tees, polos, pullovers, and other apparel aren’t golf-specific but can transition to the course, Browder explained. 
• Long-term, the line may include performance lifestyle pieces, footwear, headwear, and accessories.

The “soft launch” is available online and in all 32 brick-and-mortar stores — it plans to have 40 open by the end of the year and a full launch by the end of 2023.

“We’re bullish on it, but we think women could make up 20-25% of our direct-to-consumer [sales] in the next couple of years,” Browder said.

TM’s Momentum

Across four brands, Callaway’s fourth-quarter apparel revenue increased 39.8% to $153.9 million. TravisMathew has added the NFL’s Matt Ryan and Jimmy Garoppolo, MLB’s Corey Seager, and the NBA’s Alex Caruso as ambassadors. 

CEO Ryan Ellis told Front Office Sports that the company will open “partnership doors with golf courses and key retailers in 2022, both domestically and internationally.” It’s already Nordstrom’s No. 2 menswear brand.