It is now three and a half years since Tottenham Hotspur moved into their new home, a £1billion state-of-the-art stadium built on top of the old White Hart Lane. Chairman Daniel Levy confirmed back in 2019 that the club would be interested in securing a “naming-rights deal” with the “right brand, on the right money”, but no such agreement has been struck.
The pandemic held things up. There has also been a suggestion that
Tottenham wanted to keep the stadium free from a sponsor as it might be more
attractive for a potential buyer. A
further factor is that Uefa have sponsorship regulations that forbid the
stadium being referred to by its sponsor but for certain circumstances.
Therefore, for example, Emirates Stadium is known as Arsenal Stadium in Uefa
competitions.
The north London club have been looking for a long-term deal
worth more than £25 million a year and have spoken to a number of big companies
including Uber, FedEx and Amazon during the three years since they moved into
their new home.
Reports in more
than one media outlet have suggested that Tottenham are in meaningful
talks with Google over naming rights for the 62,850-capacity stadium.
Tottenham’s stadium holds obvious appeal. As well as hosting
the club’s home matches in the Premier League and Champions
League — two of the most-watched football tournaments in the world — the
ground also stages regular NFL matches and could yet welcome a permanent
franchise in the future. The stadium has also hosted rugby league’s Challenge
Cup Final, heavyweight boxing world title fights and several large concerts.
Any deal with Google would be a coup for Tottenham. The
club’s average annual turnover is the fifth-best in the Premier League and
Spurs already have lucrative long-term arrangements with its main shirt sponsor
AIA, kit supplier Nike, plus a sleeve partnership with online car seller Cinch.
But striking a naming-rights deal would boost their coffers further when things
are going better on the pitch.
Although no agreement with Google is close, it would be an
interesting step for the technology company to align themselves with one club
as opposed to a league. They have agreements with the NBA and the MLB in the
United States although in March they announced a multi-year partnership with
McLaren Racing as a new partner of the Formula 1 Team and the MX Extreme E Team
for this season.
Another stumbling block has been the club’s financial
demands which would make their deal among the biggest in the world. The highest
naming rights deal was made by Scotiabank for Toronto’s Maple Leafs and Raptors
Arena in 2018, worth Canadian $800 million (about £527 million), or £26 million
a year. Social Finance agreed to a 20-year deal worth a total of $400 million
(£361 million in total or 18 million a year) to place their name on the Los
Angeles Rams and Chargers’ new home in 2019.
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