This season, as in most seasons, the top half of the Premier League table is dominated by clubs from London and the North West. The likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Everton continue to tussle with London’s finest, such as Chelsea, West Ham United, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur.

The Premier League is well-known for its ability to generate revenues from several sources, which is starting to also spill into women’s football, with the likes of Vision Consulting extending its partnership with West Ham. While the £31.8 million equal share and up to £35.5 million in merit pay make up a lot of the income, sponsors continue to be big money-makers. Shirt sponsorships are the big one, with millions of viewers around the world seeing at least 11 people donning the brand up to 38 times per year. So, how do the top London clubs compare to those in the North West on this front?

£125 million per year for top London clubs

London’s two most historically successful clubs, combining for eight titles, command the same annual fees for their shirt sponsorship. Being in a particularly affluent part of London, one that sees the Kensington + Chelsea Art Week, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Chelsea’s shirt spot costs £40 million per season. Over the summer the Blues switched from Yokohama Tyres to a popular UK telecommunications company that deals in smartphones, mobile data, and broadband, Three. The new sponsor is paying the same rate as the last through to the 2022/23 campaign. Arsenal also commands a £40 million per year spot on their shirts, founded in their eventual 18-year deal with Fly Emirates, which the BBC details as the club’s longest partnership, should it stay in place until the agreed 2023/24 season. Emirates offers a full travel portal from flights to car rentals, standing as one of the largest airline companies in the world.

Their North London rivals, who are a mere ten minutes from the Costa Del Tottenham giant beer hall, command £35 million per year from their shirt sponsors. Tottenham Hotspur entered into a global partnership with AIA in 2019, reportedly being worth £320 million in total. Those three are members of the so-called ‘Big Six,’ but West Ham United also command a hefty main sponsor fee of £10 million through to 2025, per SportsPro. The main sponsor of the Hammers is the online casino specialist Betway, which offers a regularly updated library of games like Bushi Sushi, Lara Croft, and 11 Champions. West Ham presents the most high-profile spot among those outside of the ‘Big Six,’ as their £10 million per year would suggest, with their deal being the largest of the eight clubs with gambling sponsors, as detailed by Score and Change.

£159 million per year for top North West clubs

With the deals still in place, FourFourTwo’s Premier League sponsorship ranking holding up to this day, with Manchester United and Manchester City commanding the two largest sums per season. Right now, the car, truck, and van manufacturer Chevrolet stand as the record-holder, giving United £64 million per season to be on the Red Devils shirts. However, the 2014-commenced deal will conclude before the 2021/21 season, at which point the Old Trafford residents will embark on a £47 million per year deal with TeamViewer. This still gives the Reds an edge over local rivals, City, who command a £45 million per year fee from Etihad. That said, SportBusiness Sponsorship dug into the deal to find that the club’s owners, Abu Dhabi United Group, had been paying most of the sponsorship fee, leaving only £8 million for the airline to put up in 2015.

Outside of Manchester, it’s the two Merseyside clubs that rank in with the biggest deals, but the Reds command far more than the Blues. Liverpool has had a deal with Standard Chartered since 2010, which extends to the 2022/23 season and lands the recent champions £40 million, putting them on par with the top London clubs. Everton recently upgraded out of a multi-year deal to move from a £9.6 million deal to a £10 million main sponsorship arrangement with Cazoo. Cazoo is a user car purchasing website and also sponsor the Midlands’ Aston Villa, reportedly seeing sales increases of up to 60 per cent since sponsoring Premier League clubs.

Under current arrangements, the Manchester clubs help to rank the top clubs of the North West above their London-based counterparts. That said, with United seeing its revenues decreasing next season, the divide will be shortened to open the possibility for a London club to move the region to the top.