Wouldn’t it be ironic if Arsenal – sponsored by Fly Emirates – won the Emirates FA Cup? Well, it will likely become a reality next month.
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The historic FA Cup will reportedly be rebranded as the Emirates FA Cup as part of a three-year, £30 million sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines.
According to Daily Mail Online, the deal is set to be approved by the FA board on Thursday and will be worth approximately £10 million per year over the next three years.
The deal comes after the FA Cup went the entire year without a Cup backer, and was previously referred to as the FA Cup in association with Budweiser on a £9 million/year deal.
Mail Online noted that the deal does not exclude other major corporate sponsors from joining, which will allow Budweiser, Nike and William Hill to join the Cup. The projection is that the cumulative sponsorship deal with the FA Cup will reach £20 million per year by 2018.
The FA Cup Final will take place on May 30 between underdog Aston Villa, who upset Liverpool in the semi-finals to claim their spot in the final game, against the Fly Emirates sponsored defending Cup holders Arsenal, who defeated Hull City 3-2 to win their record-tying 11th Cup last year. With a win over Aston Villa, Arsenal would stand alone with the most FA Cup wins in the 114-year history of the competition.
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