Newcastle United have agreed a £6million-a-year deal for their first-ever training ground and training-kit sleeve sponsor in a major boost to their revenues.
KNOX Hydration — a South African sports drinks company, not affiliated with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the club’s 85 per cent majority owners — has bought the three-year naming rights to Newcastle’s Darsley Park training ground in Benton from July 1.
A more lucrative front-of-training-wear sponsor is still being sought and interest has been registered — KNOX will feature on the shirt sleeve, but not on the centre of the kit — as well, with Newcastle looking to rapidly grow their commercial income under David Hopkinson, the chief executive who arrived in September. This is the first sign of Hopkinson fulfilling the promise he made to pump-prime every potential revenue stream, with further deals set to follow.
Despite identifying land for a state-of-the-art training centre in Woolsington, near Newcastle International Airport, such a substantial infrastructure project is still multiple years away, given it requires planning permission and then needs to be constructed. Naming rights for what Hopkinson insists will be a “10-out-of-10” facility would be substantially more lucrative in the future.
In the meantime, Newcastle are expanding and refurbishing their current site, having already invested heavily in Darsley Park since the Saudi-financed takeover of October 2021.
Given Eddie Howe’s team will be based in Benton for the foreseeable future, a three-year naming-rights agreement worth around £18m ($24.5m) has been struck with KNOX. The deal starts in July and expires in 2029, which provides an indication about the general timescale Newcastle are working towards when it comes to moving into their new training ground. That appears to be a happy coincidence, rather than a conscious timescale discussed during negotiations.
In January, KNOX unveiled a partnership with the mixed martial arts brand UFC. Dricus Du Plessis, the former UFC Middleweight champion, is a co-founder of the sports-drinks company, which says it offers “clean, caffeine-free hydration”.
KNOX is keen to expand its appeal globally, so sponsoring a Premier League club offers the company an ideal platform to increase its visibility. On its website, KNOX Africa and KNOX Australia are active links, showing where the company’s products can be bought, while the company is set to launch in the UK this summer.
