Newcastle United today confirmed that they have signed a deal with Saudi Airline, SAUDIA to become an official club partner via an online statement.
This comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s Monster Energy announcement and also puts to bed all the rumours surrounding the SAUDIA employees spotted in and around Newcastle last week.
“SAUDIA will be the club’s Official Tour Airline Partner when the team travels to Saudi Arabia, where they will play Saudi Pro League champions Al-Hilal Football Club as part of the 2022 Diriyah Season.
The team will travel to and from Riyadh on board a SAUDIA chartered flight as part of the partnership, in a collaboration which will also see the airline introduce the partnership’s official digital hub; saudia-newcastleunitedfc.com – enabling fans to win exciting prizes and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.”
Commenting on the Partnership, the Club’s Chief Commercial Officer, Peter Silverstone, said: “Whilst Newcastle United is on an exciting and ambitious journey to grow our global reach and fanbase, we are also very focussed on growing our fan base and following in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East.
“Our ambition is to become the most supported English Premier League football team in Saudi Arabia; a country whose population includes a large, young, passionate and highly engaged football community.
“We are delighted to partner with SAUDIA as our official tour airline partner, and we look forward to working with them during our trip to Riyadh and for the remainder of the 2022/23 English Premier League Season.”
Would You Welcome SAUDIA's Name At SJP?
As long as St James' Park was still the main name
Change it to what they want if the money is good
Leave it completely alone
You’d expect that this is likely just the first step in a much bigger partnership agreement as SAUDIA have been heavily backed to become a main partner since the takeover in October last year. With the Emirates deal at Arsenal and the Etihad deal with Manchester City, airline sponsorships have proven to be big earners for the club and often encompass stadium naming rights and shirt sponsorship.
With the deal with current shirt sponsor, FUN88 due to come to an early end at the close of the season, Newcastle will be looking to add a new name to the front of the shirt and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Fly SAUDIA emblazoned across the black and white stripes. Possibly on the last kits made by Castore as there have been rumours that the club are in negotiations to end that contract early, although nothing concrete has come out about that yet.