EPL club Manchester United has bought out of its training kit partnership with DHL, according to the club's 20-F annual report filed on Thursday. The training kit deal, signed in August '11 and set to expire on June 30, 2014, now expires June 30, 2013. Financial terms were not available. DHL remains the club's "global logistics partner." ManU believes it can secure an increase for its training kit sponsorship. The club wrote in the 20-F annual report, "The significantly increased value of agreements concluded since entering into this agreement, such as our recent $559 million world record shirt sponsorship with General Motors, leads us to believe that there should be strategic opportunities to further optimize the value of these rights" (Christopher Botta, SportsBusiness Journal). The PA noted after ManU announced its four-year, US$51.6M deal with DHL, most experts "were astonished at the sum as it exceeded all the actual kit deals of their Premier League rivals outside of the elite group of present and past Champions League qualifiers" (PA, 10/25). YAHOO SPORTS' Brooks Peck wrote, "Perhaps the most impressive part of this whole thing ... is that DHL is willing to stay on as their 'global logistics' sponsor despite this slap in the face" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/25).
