Newcastle quench commercial thirst with £60m KNOX front-of-shirt sponsorship deal
Newcastle United have agreed a three-year front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with South African sports drinks company KNOX Hydration worth approximately £60m.
The agreement will see the brand replace Sela as the club’s primary shirt partner. Unlike Sela, which is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), KNOX Hydration has no affiliation with the sovereign wealth fund.
The Premier League club have expanded their relationship with KNOX Hydration, which has also committed £6m a season for three years, starting 1st July, to rename Newcastle United’s Darsley Park training ground. Under the new kit terms, the brand will pay up to £10m for the 2026-27 campaign – a lower initial figure due to the new home kit going on sale without a sponsor – which will rise to up to £25m annually for the final two years of the contract.
In addition to the sponsorship, both organisations plan to launch a club-linked, co-branded beverage. This initiative is designed to drive additional commercial revenue to assist Newcastle United in complying with the Premier League’s squad-cost rules (SCR).
David Hopkinson, CEO of Newcastle United, is continuing to expand and diversify the club’s list of partnerships, with discussions currently ongoing for a first-ever training kit sponsor.
David Hopkinson said, “This is a message to the marketplace. It confirms companies are energised by our status as a challenger brand and want to come on that journey with us, and shows the types of people we want to partner with.”
John Schaefer, CEO of KNOX, added, “You feel all this energy around the place of, ‘Hey, we’re going to be No 1 within five years, not within 20 years’. That’s really exciting and feels like a natural fit for us. Our product, we genuinely believe, is the best thing a multi-million-dollar athlete can put into their fine-tuned body. I could put our name on a stadium, but what has that got to do with us? A training ground makes perfect sense. We both want to become the best of the best. We’re on a parallel path of growing together with Newcastle, and I see us both being No 1.”
