English soccer's top-tier Premier League (EPL) is set to begin a lucrative commercial tie-up with renowned beer brand Guinness in 2024-25, it has been reported.
The EPL has now told its 20 member clubs that a deal worth £10 million ($12.5 million) per season will start next campaign and run through 2027-28, Sky News has reported.
The outlet has also said that the Diageo-owned brand has secured this tie-up - yet to be officially signed - after seeing off competition from fellow brewing giant Heineken.
An agreement of £10 million per year would reportedly represent a significant financial boost for the EPL from the current Budweiser deal.
Budweiser has been an EPL sponsor since the beginning of 2019-20 and has also been a major sponsor of the knockout FA Cup competition in recent years (before losing that slot to Carling in early 2023).
Other major EPL commercial partners include NIKE, Barclays, Hublot, EA Sports, Oracle, and Panini.
In late March, the league agreed to a four-year licensing and investment tie-up with virtual reality (VR) software firm Rezzil.
Through the agreement, the EPL is taking an equity stake in Manchester-based Rezzil, while the two are also working together to develop an EPL-centric game, to launch later this year.
Guinness, meanwhile, has been primarily a rugby union sponsor as opposed to soccer in recent years.
Most prominently, the Diageo brand is a major sponsor of the Six Nations European national teams competition in rugby union and holds naming rights for that competition’s women’s edition.
It also has a deal in place with the English Rugby Football Union body.