The Premier League decides whether a sponsorship deal is at fair value by using an independent assessor who reviews redacted documents, then the board weighs that view alongside the club's own evidence and comparable transactions.
Which commercial agreements are covered
The protocol covers two kinds of commercial deal. One is a sponsorship or licensing agreement, or an agreement that gives the counterparty a right of association with the club, a player, its manager or a senior official. The other is an agreement under which the counterparty advertises its brand, products or services with the club, whether at the stadium, the training ground, the website or elsewhere.
Fair market value means the amount for which an asset, right or other subject matter could be sold, licensed or exchanged, a liability settled, or a service provided, between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm's length transaction.
What the board must consider, and when it may skip the independent expert
The board has to consider three things when making the assessment. It must weigh an independent expert's valuation obtained by the board, any relevant information from the club including the club's own valuation, and comparable evidence of similar transactions that is appropriate, relevant and readily available.
The board may choose not to obtain an independent expert's assessment in three situations: a shareholder loan, a transaction where no consideration is paid to the club, player, manager or senior official, or a deal involving the sale or loan of a player's registration.
What the club has to submit
The club submits the transaction through the league's Databank. It must provide the information required by the submission form, the documents that record the full terms and conditions, and, for an associated party transaction, whatever evidence and submissions it wants the board to weigh on value.
The obligation does not stop there. The club must also provide anything else the board might reasonably expect or ask for, including any arrangement, understanding, agreement or other incentive that bears on the associated party's decision to enter into the deal.
A director or equivalent of the associated party must declare that they consider the transaction to be at fair market value. The club must also provide a summary and documentary evidence of the counterparty's rationale for the deal, including its key marketing objectives, key target markets and key customer target, so far as the club has access to that material and has taken reasonable steps to obtain it.
What the independent assessor receives
Here is what the independent assessor receives and the form in which it is provided.
| What they get | In what form |
|---|---|
| The deal documents and the submission form information | In full, but with every specific fee or other consideration redacted by the club |
| The fee structure | As a summary with no figures: the payment schedule and the structure of bonuses, royalties and contingent payments |
| Associated fees the club will pay | As a percentage of the revenue the deal is expected to produce |
| Other elements of value | As a summary, value-in-kind and any services included |
| Comparable deals | Specific Databank transactions identified as appropriate and relevant to the assessment |
This is the most concrete part of the process. The assessor sees the structure of the deal, the rights being delivered and the comparable material, but not the actual amounts. The club is responsible for making the redactions.
The assessor also receives everything else the club submitted on value. Comparable transactions are then drawn from the Databank after the assessor identifies deals known from public information and categories such as comparable clubs, sponsorship type and sponsorship sector, with the league's regulatory team providing the specific transactions judged appropriate and relevant.
How the assessor works, and what happens if information is missing
Where an assessment is required, the board obtains one from an independent assessor with suitable experience and expertise. The league will also take the steps needed to make sure the assessor has no conflict of interest and that competitively sensitive information remains appropriately confidential.
If the league or the assessor needs more information or documents to reach a conclusive view, it may ask the club, player, manager or senior official for them. They must assist fully and without delay; if the requested material is not provided, that failure is taken into account and the board may draw adverse inferences.
The assessor must consider all information that is appropriate, relevant and readily available. The factors to be weighed are not an exhaustive list, but they include fees from comparable transactions in football, with comparable deals in other sports or industries of similar profile used as a secondary source and football comparables likely to be the most applicable; fees from any preceding deal the club made in the same category; the term, including the remaining term on a renewal; whether the arrangement is a new partnership or a renewal; the counterparty brand's industry sector and product category; the partnership tier; the assets and rights delivered; and the media exposure of those assets.
FAQ
What does fair market value mean in these rules?
It is the amount at which an asset, right, liability or service could be transacted between knowledgeable, willing parties dealing at arm's length. The definition is about the conditions of the transaction as much as the subject being valued.
Who values a Premier League sponsorship deal?
An independent assessor provides the valuation where one is required, and that assessor must have suitable experience and expertise. The board then makes the assessment after weighing that valuation with the club's own material and comparable evidence.
What does the league check in a sponsorship agreement?
The review covers more than the headline commercial package. It looks at the rights granted, the structure of the arrangement, the available comparable deals and the evidence the club puts forward on value, including the counterparty's commercial rationale where the club can obtain it.
What is an independent fair market value assessor?
It is an external valuer used by the board when the protocol requires an assessment. The assessor works from a redacted set of documents, so the task is to judge value from structure, rights, comparables and exposure rather than from the contract's stated amounts.