Arsenal 'sweating' over deal with KSI and Logan Paul amid £15m twist

Arsenal signed up with energy drink brand Prime at the peak of the hype, but the deal is now coming under scrutiny.

Prime was founded by Logan Paul and KSI and saw huge success after its initial launch thanks to a innovative marketing campaign.

Part of that strategy saw the company signs commercial partnerships with the likes of Arsenal, of whom KSI is a boyhood supporter.

Prime became the official hydration sponsor of the Gunners in July 2022, supplying their drinks at the Emirates as one of the club’s 26 official commercial partners.

The company also has partnerships with Bayern Munich, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, as well as a number of other blue-chip sports team and leagues.

However, sales of Prime have crashed, leading some authorities within the sponsorship industry to suggest that getting into bed with them might have been ill-advised.

Arsenal partner Prime in trouble, says expert

Prime’s quarterly earnings have fallen by £15m based on this time last year.

Arsenal have a diversified portfolio of sponsors, in which Prime are likely not among the top 10 in terms of the value of the deal.

But, speaking on the SportsPro Podcast, sponsorship expert Sam Carp said that executives of clubs and leagues who have partnered with the brand might be worried.

“I think this mirrors the NFT trend,” he said.

“Prime burst on the scene last year with loads of hype around it. Bottles were selling for ridiculous amounts of money.

“Some retailers even had to put security labels on them because they became that much of a lucrative item for them. They built up a load of hype and demand through scarcity.

“The bottles almost became like a collectible. All the followers of Logan Paul and KSI, the two influencers who launched the brand, were desperate to get their hands on them.

“That saw revenue for the company soar. In order to build attention and grow the brand, they did a load of sponsorship deals with teams like Bayern Munich and Arsenal. Also, the LA Dodgers, the UFC and WWE.

“Now, in the first half of 2024, that demands has dried up. Their revenue in the UK is 50 per cent of what it was for the same quarter of the year compared to 12 months earlier.

“I imagine a lot of those sports who did deals with Prime will be sweating about whether they are going to be able to honour their payments.

“Part of those deals will have been that those sports will have been that are able to leverage the profile of KSI and Logan Paul have and reach audience.

“But I think the WWE deal was described as the biggest deal in that organisation’s history, so it’s not like there is no money at stake here.

“In BioSteel, I think it’s an interesting example of an energy drinks brand that began with loads of hype around it but hasn’t really though about how it was going to sustain itself beyond the initial hype period.“

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TBR Analysis: How much is Arsenal’s Prime deal worth?

Without being privy to the contract, it is impossible to know exactly what Prime are paying Arsenal.

But Prime’s deal with Bayern Munich is believed to have been worth around £4m, which might give some indication about what the North London club have been paid.

The two deals are not directly comparable, however, and there will have been variables in terms of what the brand was willing to pay for various activations etc.

Arsenal’s total commercial income for 2022-23 was £173m, with over half of that figure coming from their sponsorships with Nike and Emirates.