Suning Real Estate Scores New Deal With Inter Milan

Serie A club Inter Milan has signed a sponsorship deal with Suning Real Estate, an arm of the club’s Chinese ownership group Suning.

The deal announced by the club’s official channels in China, will see Suning Real Estate use the Inter brand to promote an Italian-style inspired property development.

The Serie A club added the two organisations “will work together to create a beautiful community that integrates the experience of Italian style and sports culture”.

Things aren’t looking promising in the football club’s regional sponsorship game across Asia. Inter’s interim report for the 2019-20 financial year, announced in February, saw total sponsorship revenue fall from US$66.1m in the first half of 2018-19 to US$41.7m for the same period in 2019-20.

The plunge was attributed to the exit or decrease in the Asian sponsorship market, including a significant drop in the value of Suning’s own sponsorship and stadium naming rights deal from US$9.8m in the first half of 2018-19 to US$4.8m in the equivalent period this season. In all, revenue from Asian sponsorships dipped by 60 per cent from US$48.5m to US$19.4m year-on-year.

But it’s not all gloomy for the Italian football giant with European and global sponsorship revenue, not including the main shirt and kit deals, increased by 37 per cent, from US$6.4m+ to US$8.8m. Interim revenue for main shirt sponsor Pirelli increased by 16 per cent to US$6.6m+ and for technical sponsor Nike by 24 per cent to US$6.8m.

Chinese conglomerate Suning bought a controlling stake in Inter Milan for US$311.6m in June 2016 with an eye to revive the fortunes of the fallen giant, which has been quite a challenge. This season, it has hired former Italian national team manager Antonio Conte, who has steered the team to third place in the league with 54 points, behind Lazio and Juventus which are on 62 and 63 points respectively before COVID-19 restrictions kicked in.