12 Oct 2012

All Blacks jersey gets more advertising

7:29 pm on 12 October 2012

The front of the All Black jersey is about to get a lot more advertising on it, with the logo for the global insurance company, American International Group, displayed in white letters across all major New Zealand rugby uniforms.

The five and a half year deal is believed to be the second most valuable rugby sponsorship in the world - after the All Blacks' other deal, with Adidas.

AIG will also directly sponsor the other major national teams, including the All Blacks Sevens, the Maori All Blacks and the New Zealand Black Ferns.

The NZRU CEO Steve Tew admits it may not be popular with fans but he's adamant it's the right move to add the AIG logo onto the iconic black jersey, which will be centred below the silver fern and the current Adidas logo.

And Tew's very grateful to the German sportswear maker for allowing another logo on the shirts.

He says effectively they've sold the same space twice, but with their positive relationship with Adidas they haven't had any of that sponsorship income reduced.

While he won't disclose the financial terms of the AIG deal, the NZRU has come close to doubling that part of their sponsorship income and the.

The chief executive of the consultancy group Sport Research, Simon Arkwright, says it's probably in the vicinity of five to six million dollars per year.

AIG's Executive Vice President Peter Hancock hints that it's worth less than the four-year deal AIG did to sponsor English Premier League football giants Manchester United's shirt, which was £56.5 million over four years, or about $110 million current in New Zealand currency, and expired at the end of the 2009-10 season.