Manchester United unveiled one of the biggest joint-marketing deals in the history of sport on Wednesday when they announced they are linking up with American baseball giants New York Yankees.
The Old Trafford outfit are already the richest football club in the world and this deal, potentially worth billions of pounds, is set to further consolidate their position.
United denied that this was a move towards abandoning the Premier League and re-inforced that theirs was a decision based on business ethics.
We are not in the process of selling our souls to another sport, this is to make friends and grow the sport
Manchester United director Bobby Charlton
It is a deal the two parties have been working towards for the last 12 months and they will share market information, develop sponsorship and joint promotional programs and sell each other's licensed goods.
"This is something that we have been working on for some considerable time and it was about 'how do we develop Manchester United," said United chairman Peter Kenyon at a news conference in Manhattan.
Kenyon continued: "Soccer has developed dramatically in the US over the last 10 years, and we believe there is a market for Manchester United content among football fans of all ages.
"With the help of the YankeeNets we intend to pursue these and other commercial opportunities in the coming years."
The announcement of the deal resulted in United's share price rising 20p to 233¾p.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/1159026.stm(P.S. I've a soft spot for the Red Sox