AIG's outstanding £14m payment to Manchester United is increasingly coming under scrutiny in the United States amid growing political pressure for the money not to be paid from federal bail-out money.
United have not yet received the final instalment of a £56.5m shirt-sponsorship deal with AIG that has coincided with the company going into financial meltdown. A rescue package for the insurance giant, footed by the US government, currently stands in excess of £125bn, and there has been a huge public backlash from US taxpayers after it emerged the company had used part of the money to pay executives huge financial bonuses.
The terms of AIG's four-year agreement with United, which is due to expire at the end of next season, are now being investigated and there have been calls for the deal to be scrapped with immediate effect.
"I think that AIG should drop the sponsorship deal with Manchester United," Ed Pastor, a Congressional Democrat, said yesterday. "They [AIG] are no longer an independent private company. They now belong to the US government."
United have received various assurances that they will still receive all the outstanding money and the club still intend to wear the AIG logo on their shirts next season, despite plans to re-brand the company as AIU. However, United are also aware about the growing opposition among US politicians and there are concerns within the club about where it might lead.
Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat representative from Arizona, said of AIG: "Paying excessive bonuses to executives with taxpayer funds was unacceptable and it is equally unacceptable for US taxpayers' money to go to support an English soccer club."
United are already looking for a new shirt sponsor for the start of the 2010-11 season and the Tata Group, the Indian company which owns Tetley, Corus, Jaguar and Land Rover and sponsors the Ferrari formula one team, confirmed it has been approached about the possibility of taking over from AIG.
"There are various sponsorship options, one for the team shirt," said a Tata company spokesman. "This has been going on for some time but nothing has been finalised."
United are keen to strengthen their position in India but the talks are at only a preliminary stage and the club have also been talking to several other companies, including Air Asia and Saudi Telecom.
