" Another rebrand in progress "

The Football Association is close to finalising a £10m-a-year deal that would see the FA Cup restyled as the Emirates FA Cup, taking the world's oldest cup competition a step closer to full title-sponsorship.

Thursday 30th April 2015

The FA says it remains in talks with several parties, but a deal with the airline is well progressed and the FA board will receive an update at its monthly meeting on Thursday.

The deal is welcome news for the FA after it failed to attract a sponsor for this season’s competition following the exit of previous sponsor Budweiser.

It has made a concession to secure the new deal, however, agreeing to a styling that is closer to title sponsorship.

That may attract some criticism, but the FA is content that it will be muted given "FA Cup" remains in the title, and the competition's long history of commercial partnerships.

The FA Cup has had a sponsor since 1994, when it was officially re-branded "the FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods".

That styling continued under subsequent sponsors AXA and E-On. The Budweiser deal saw it become "The FA Cup presented by Budweiser".

The FA will defend the deal on the grounds that as a not-for-profit organisation it has to rely on exploitation of its three major assets - the FA Cup, the England team and Wembley, in order to generate revenue to feed back into the grassroots game.

The absence of a sponsor for a competition that still attracts global interest was an embarrassment, and giving ground on the name a small price to pay for a new deal.

Chairman Greg Dyke wants to pass on more of the FA's income to the game's grassroots, and this deal will help him do it.

Emirates has a track-record of sports sponsorship, and until last year had deals with the cricket, rugby and football world cups.

It ended its relationship with FIFA last year amid ongoing allegations of corruption at football's world governing body.

It is also a long-term partner of Arsenal, with naming rights to the club’s stadium, The Emirates, and a shirt sponsorship deal.

Criticism has been muted since news of the deal was broken by the Daily Mail, a sign that the vast majority accept sponsorship is a fact of sporting life.

Steve Martin, the chief executive of M&C Saatchi Sport, said fans are aware of the positive impact sponsors can have.

He said: "You have to respect tradition, particularly with something like the FA Cup which has a rich heritage, but time moves on and as long as the brand respects the tradition it can make it more exciting, and open it up to a new market and a younger audience.

"If the money is used and pumped back into the game to make the national team better, by supporting the grassroots, then it is hard to argue against.

"Brands are there to add to events, to make them more exciting, so while you have to respect the fans' views this is the way the market is going and I don't think it is a bad thing.”

I feel sick.

Money money money. Out of curiosity, do the bosses of the FA get bonuses?

its a business and everything is for sale at a price.

i don't know why people are surprised, it was the FA cup in association with budweiser before, so its not that much of a difference.

i'm surprised that wembley wasn't given a sponsorship name, thats probably the next thing they will cash in on.

The FA has a large debt for Wembley have they not? They also have to pay for women's football, disabled football of many different types and levels, kids football etc etc. We had the FA blind association visit us recently and the amount of disabled footballers in this country is massive. Each have their leagues paid for by the FA. Very little if no sponsorship is provided. Excellent and worthwhile cause.

I have no problem with this at all. It helps a lot of people.

Malcolm Clark from the FSF said

I think most fans and indeed commentators will just continue to call it the FA Cup. The key issue of principle is that of the principle of sponsorship and that horse bolted years ago, as it did with many other types of sponsorship in football.

Of course, the big difference between the FA and Premier League (and indeed other) clubs is that the FA is not for profit, and uses its sponsorship and broadcasting income to develop football and other things such as FA Cup prize money (which clubs at all levels benefit from). Someone else can calculate how many 4G pitches could be laid with the Emirates £10m. Even more important in an era of Local Authority austerity cuts. Now, of course, there are big debates to be had about how it uses that money, but I do think the not for profit distinction is very relevant, as indeed, you will recall, did the NC when we decided not to oppose the tea time kick-off for the FA Cup Final, because the considerable extra broadcasting revenue which that generates goes into the FA pot, not to private clubs.

In my view the FA Cup has so far survived relatively unscathed from all the changes in football. Semi-finals at Wembley was a significant change which we opposed, but even on that there is a debate about how you pay for a new national stadium if you don’t have sufficient big games there. We lost replays at the semi and final stages but have not lost them for earlier rounds despite some pressure in that direction ( although we lost multiple replays). Otherwise the format is still very much what it always has been. This season the new approach by the broadcasters has actually revitalised the Cup a bit, in my opinion. As we mentioned on Sunday, there is a now a further review of the FA Cup, to which we will contribute.

And the problem is.................?

The FA have sponsored this cup several times before. All monies go to the game ie non-profit.

At the end of the day, this is 2015, not 1887.

We all still call it the Cup or the FA Cup.

let's move on to more important matters like getting rid of that dinosaur Slade and bringing in a dynamic manager.

And the problem is.................?

The FA have sponsored this cup several times before. All monies go to the game ie non-profit.

At the end of the day, this is 2015, not 1887.

We all still call it the Cup or the FA Cup.

let's move on to more important matters like getting rid of that dinosaur Slade and bringing in a dynamic manager.

some exist to moan. surely after 5 years on this site you would have known that by now