Chelsea have been handed Premier League approval for sports data company, Infinite Athlete, to become the club’s new front-of-shirt sponsor.
The deal, which is believed to be worth in the region of £40million for the season, has finally been given the green light and Infinite Athlete will appear on Chelsea’s shirts.
The news is a huge boost for Chelsea, who have been without a front-of-shirt sponsor for the first six Premier League games of the season.
It is understood that the deal did not go through in time for Infinite Athlete’s logo to appear on Chelsea’s shirts against Brighton in the Carabao Cup yesterday, but it could be on show in next Monday night’s Premier League game against Fulham.
The deal is for the Infinite Athlete logo to appear on the shirts of both Chelsea’s men’s and women’s teams.
It remains to be seen whether or not Infinite Athlete will be the front-of-shirt sponsor just for this season, or whether the deal will continue past the current campaign. There is also the possibility that Infinite Athlete will be Chelsea’s front-of-shirt sponsor this season with the partnership taking on a different form after that.
Infinite Athlete, which was only launched at the start of August, are understood to have provided the Premier League with details of their funding and revenues in order to satisfy fair market value rules and get the go-ahead to display the company’s logo on Chelsea’s shirts.
Sources insist that the original deal presented to the Premier League has not been forced to undergo any dramatic change or be significantly revalued under fair market value rules.
Infinite Athlete, which is a private company that syncs every piece of sports data to allow people to build and develop new products, initially looked at stadium naming rights deals across the globe before making an offer to become Chelsea’s new front-of-shirt sponsor.
It is believed Infinite Athlete told the Premier League that they have already raised hundreds of millions in investment and that revenue generated across their investors and backers also runs into the hundreds of millions.
Chelsea started the Premier League season without a sponsor on their shirts after the contract with Three expired in the summer. A proposed deal with Paramount was blocked by the Premier League, while the Blues pulled out of an advanced negotiations with Stake.-Telegraph
