How Aston Villa have played part in £400m+ Formula 1 deal
Aston Villa may have played a key role in the latest addition to the Formula 1 calendar.
The Villans are only growing as a global name as success continues under Unai Emery.
It is now four campaigns of European football on the bounce, with this year being a second in the Champions League.
That is playing a key role in helping increase revenues and make the claret and blue outfit a force in the Premier League and beyond.
As part of that, sponsorship deals come into play as Visit Rwanda took up the front-of-shirt in B6.
That now seems to have benefited all parties as F1 looks set to return to Africa in the very near future.
Rwanda sign 10-year deal to host Formula 1 grand prix
The motorsport become one of the fastest-growing sports across the world.
Global viewership has taken a spike in recent years with the franchise growing, with that thanks in part to the Netflix series "Drive to Survive".
That has most recently seen Madrid join the calendar as a new circuit.
There is now set to be another addition in the shape of Rwanda.
F1 is now set to return to Africa for the first time since 1993 after the nation signed a 10-year deal to host races.
Grand Prix isn't set to get underway there until "the early 2030s" with a new purpose-built circuit in Bugesera.
That represents the latest step into the world of sports for Rwanda and it seems as if Villa have played a role.
How Aston Villa have helped build platform for Rwanda
There was plenty of controversy surrounding Visit Rwanda coming in as front-of-shirt sponsor at Villa Park.
That is due to accusations of sportswashing, with many suggesting this is done to deflect alleged human rights abuse and conflict.
The country is also said to have a repression of free speech, while support for the M23 Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo causes its own issues.
Villa have still decided to adopt them on their shirts in a deal reportedly worth up to £20million.
That represents the tourism board's first step into front-of-shirt sponsorship having previously taken a spot at Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain as sleeve sponsor.
It can be argued that allowing them to be front of centre for the claret and blue outfit has helped the profile of the country grow to a point where they can make a deal with F1 happen.
How much Rwanda could pay for F1 deal
Given that the African nation are paying around £20m to the Villans, that represents short change compared to this F1 deal.
The latest deal to go through is Madrid and it is reported that they are paying between £38m–£42m to host the Grand Prix.
The closest to Rwanda as the crow flies is the Qatar grand prix, with the Middle Eastern nation paying a reported £42m.
Should the African country pay the average of those two at £40m, that would work out at £400m across their 10-year deal.
That is a sizable amount and it can seriously be argued that Aston Villa had a part to play in making it happen.
The question is whether that is morally right or not.