AIG: Footing the Bill for the World's Richest Team

It should have been an unbeatable pairing: behemoth U.S. insurer American International Group(AIG Quote) teamed with England's most profitable football club, Manchester United.

The entity created the richest shirt-sponsorship deal in English football, at about $100 million for the four-year contract. But come next year, when AIG's name is stripped from the chests of ManU's players, it will go down as just another in the litany of unfortunate sports-branding deals -- and another embarrassing chapter in the sorry saga of AIG.

Indeed, U.S. taxpayers might be less than thrilled to know that tens of millions of their tax dollars are going to fund what is frequently cited as the world's richest sports franchise. And a British one at that.

It all began in April, 2006, when AIG penned the deal as a means of globally unifying its brand, says Nicholas Ashooh, AIG's senior vice president of communications.

Valued at $1.8 billion by Forbes Magazine this year, Manchester United holds the claim as the most valuable team in sports -- and has long been the most dominant English soccer club, winning 18 league titles in its history. "Manchester United has a huge fan base and is very lucrative in Asia, a key market for AIG," Ashooh says.

Aside from AIG getting its name plastered on United's iconic red jerseys, the sponsorship also included AIG's Goals for Kids. Under the terms of the program, AIG would contribute about $16,000 in the 2006-2007 season to seven children's charities in the United Kingdom, Ireland and around the world, and would donate an additional $1,600 for each goal team scored during the season.

Co-branded credit cards and special events were also part of the AIG/United pact.