Real Madrid's New Deal With Bwin Suggests Chelsea's Samsung Pact Is Underpriced

(MoneyWatch)  Real Madrid has increased its sponsorship deal with Bwin to ?£18.3 million a year for three years, but it may not be enough to sustain the club's ?£672 million player-buying spree since 2003.

The Bwin deal is an increase from Real's previous price, a ?£12.7-million-a year (?£38 million over three years) deal with the Austrian online gambling empire. Real thus leaps Bayern Munich and Juventus to take third place in BNET's ranking of international football sponsorship prices (see below).

It also raises a question about how much Chelsea F.C. got when the London club re-upped its deal with Samsung. It received "US$60 million ... over the next three years," according to Sports Pro Media. That works out as ?£12.5 million a year -- only a modest increase from its previous price of ?£11 million a year.

Given that Real, Liverpool F.C. and Manchester United have all managed to grab magnitudes more cash in their recent deals, it suggests that Chelsea's negotiators have underpriced their club. That's a problem given that, on paper, Chelsea owes owner Roman Abramovich three quarters of a million pounds.

While Real may be celebrating the new cash influx, those celebrations won't last long, according to a study by a professor of accounting at the University of Barcelona. Real have spent ?£672 million pounds on 40 players between 2003 and 2009:

The investment contributed to a deficit between 2000-2009 of 559 million euros and the latest spending spree by new president Florentino Perez, in which he lavished around 250 million euros on players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, has lifted the club's gross debt to around 800 million, [Prof. Jose Maria Gay] estimates.

"Real's most important revenue streams won't be enough to offset their spending," Gay said at a presentation in Barcelona. "It's a very risky investment."

Bwin's name first appeared on Madrid's shirt in 2007-08.

BNET's global football sponsorship deal league:

1. Liverpool: ?£20 million a year (?£81 million over four years) with Standard Chartered
2. Manchester United: ?£20 million a year (?£80 million over four years) with Aon
3. Real Madrid: ?£18.3 million a year (?£55 million over three years) with Bwin.com
4. Bayern Munich: ?£17 million a year (?£68 million over four years) with T-Home
5. Juventus: ?£15 million a year (?£75 million over five years) with Tamoil
6. Chelsea: ?£12.5 million a year (?£37.5 million over three years) with Samsung
7. Manchester City: ?£8m a year (?£24 million over three years) with Etihad Airways.
8. Arsenal: ?£6.7 million a year (?£100 million over 15 years) with Emirates

• BNET's previous coverage of football advertising:
• Liverpool F.C. Wants ?£240M for Naming Rights to Stanley Park ... Or Does It?
• Liverpool's Standard Chartered Deal May Be Bigger Than Man. Utd's Pact With Aon
• Is Chelsea's New Sponsor Deal With Samsung Big Enough to Affect Its Debts?
• Arsenal's ?£100M Sponsorship Deal With Emirates No Longer Looks Like a Good Deal
• Will Death of Ex-Saatchi CEO Dreyfus Lift Curse of Marseille?
• Liverpool F.C. Seek ?£80 Mil. Deal With Carlsberg, But the Brewer May Not Easily Be Replaced
• Manchester United Sign Aon to Replace AIG as Shirt Sponsor; Club Returns to Profitability