Report: Bayern Munich to sign a billion euro sponsorship deal with Audi

According to a report by Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (via kicker), Bayern Munich will not make the rumored switch to BMW any time soon. The Bavarians had been flirting with the German automaker for some time now, but current sponsors Audi upped their offer to a point where it was no longer viable for BMW to compete.

BMW were poised to take over Audi’s 8.33% ownership stake in the club as well as the current car sponsorship contract the Volkswagen-owned company have with the club. The deal was supposed to amount to a total of 800m euros over 10 years. However, Audi have now fired back with a mammoth one billion euro deal spread over a period of 12 years.

Wait, what?

Yes, you read that right. One BILLION, with a B. According to kicker, the deal is structured as a 60 million euro yearly payment plus additional extras, that should bring up the total to around 83m a year. That’s absolutely ridiculous for what is just a car sponsor — Audi won’t even get their name on the jersey for this. For comparison, Chevrolet pay Manchester United around the same amount to be the main sponsor of the club and get their logo on the front of the jersey.

If this report is true, then this would be a massive coup for the Bavarians in an era where money is more important than ever. As for those who were looking forward to the BMW takeover, tough luck. The BMW deal is reportedly dead in the water, and Bayern look set to continue with Audi for a long time.