Aon does shirts for 'Man U'.

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AON CORP. is set to replace American International Group Inc. as the shirt sponsor of English football team Manchester United.

The four-year agreement, which will take effect in the 2010-2011 season, will mean the players will wear the Aon logo on their uniforms.

The agreement "is a great opportunity to build our brand in a global way that we never could have been able to do on our own," said David Prosperi, Aon's Chicago-based vice president for global public relations.

The deal with AIG was regarded as particularly valnable in Asia, where Manchester United has a huge following and where much of AIG's business was built. "Our research is showing that they [Manchester United] have five times the number of fans in China and six times the number of fans in India that they have in the U.K.," he said. "And both of those markets are tremendous growth opportunities for our firm." Last year, Manchester United sold almost 6.6 million shirts.

The AIG agreement, worth 19 million [pounds sterling] ($31.1 million) a year, will run through the end of the 2009-2010 season. After AIG ran into serious financial trouble, the insurer and the club announced that their agreement would not be renewed.

* Listen to the entire interview with David Prosperi at www.bestdayaudio.com