Emirates vows to honour 100-mn pound deal with Arsenal

Emirates vows to honour 100-mn pound deal with ArsenalLondon, Jan 7 : Emirates, the official shirt and stadium sponsors of Arsenal, has insisted that they will honour their 15-year 100 million pound deal despite the financial crisis.

The Gunners and Emirates Airlines agreed the package in 2004. It has been suggested the club would renegotiate the shirt deal, which has five seasons to run.

But Emirates will remain the Premier League club''s chosen backers and the company reiterated their commitment, The Sun reports.

Emirates sponsorships manager Stuart Priestly said: "You can engage with 60,000 people at the Emirates Stadium and collectively a lot more. We want to work with Arsenal. I travel the world through my job and I can watch Arsenal wherever I am. The Emirates Stadium name always comes out."

Despite Arsenal not winning a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup, Priestly insists backing Arsene Wenger''s side is still a sound investment.

"When you have a team like Arsenal, the way they play is very stylish, it''s a great mix. Everything about the relationship is very good," he said.

Chairman and chief executive of the Emirates Airline & Group, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum says the firm is committed to investing in sport.

"We invest around one per cent of Emirates'' total revenue on sponsorship, promotions and media relations. We committed to spend more than 125 million pound from 2007 until 2014 when we signed up as an official partner with FIFA. This is a long-term thing," Al-Maktoum said. (ANI)