For those watching the Champions League semi-final between Inter and AC Milan at San Siro on BT Sport tonight, they may notice the distinct lack of a sponsor’s logo on the front of the latter’s shirts.
Why, you may well ask? Well, it’s all because of an ongoing dispute with shirt sponsor DigitalBits, a cryptocurrency firm that specialises in blockchain and digital assets.
DigitalBits, which describes itself as “the blockchain for brands”, replaced fan-engagement specialists Socios as the club’s official front-of-shirt sponsor in late 2021.
However, the club’s published financial results claims that it is still owed a considerable amount of money for the sponsorship deal, which amounts to a total of losses exceeding €24 million (approximately £21 million) due in separate instalments in June, October and February respectively.
Why don’t Inter Milan have a sponsor on the front of their shirts?
What’s more, they now appear to have dropped the company’s logo from their shirts completely, in apparent response to continued payment issues.
And according to Inter’s chief executive Alessandro Antonello, the embattled firm owes the club “around €17 million” (£14 million).
He also revealed that the club are currently in the process of finding a replacement sponsor for the struggling blockchain network.
For now, though, it seems that the Italian giants are prepared to do without for the time being at least as they seek to recoup their losses.
“[This] has not yet been paid by the sponsor, for which they have provided reasons that our lawyers deem unfounded,” Antonello said at Inter’s latest AGM meeting last October.
“Negotiations are currently underway to find a friendly resolution to the dispute. At present, it is not possible to predict whether these negotiations will be successful or not. If it is not possible to reach an agreement, the club will consider taking legal action to protect our interests.
“The club has already taken all the necessary actions on the market, initiating several discussions to find a possible new shirt partner through its own commercial structure so that the new partner can take over as soon as possible.”
Now, it’s worth mentioning that Inter aren’t the only club affected by this recent turn of events, as Serie A rivals Roma also find themselves in a similar sort of predicament.
In fact, after Inter’s issues with DigitalBits were made public, Roma also decided to suspend their agreement as well as a result.
