We had someone do a breakdown on a pod the other day, and iirc he stated that the only major deal that comes from Abu Dhabi is the Etihad shirt and stadium deal which is £60m pa. and the rest of them (Etisalat, Aabar etc.) accumulate together to become just 10 to 15m which is nothing in the overall scheme of things really. To put into context the Nexen tyre sleeve sponsorship alone is £7m pa.
If say the shirt and stadium sponsorship were to be renewed now with any other interested party, say some car company like Nissan, you'd assume it would be closer to that 60m mark if not higher considering the type of deals flying about now days.
So you could say that the alleged "unfair" backing from UAE companies isn't even that significant to have the type of drastic affect that people who aren't aware with the figures normally state.
In a nutshell. With City’s current profile, I’m pretty sure we could get at least what Etihad pay us if went on the open market, if not more. Sure, it seemed over valued when the deal was first signed but that’s not the case now. However, even if it is under valued these days I can’t ever see Etihad being ditched under the current ownership so it’s hypothetical really.