The name change of the stadium Atlético de Madrid from Cívitas Metropolitano to Riyadh Air Metropolitano has put back the multimillion-dollar agreements for the naming rights in the spotlight. There are many teams that have been exploiting something as identifying as the name of their own stadium for years to obtain a very large economic return.
In the red and white fiefdom, first was Wanda, who signed 50 million for five years. Then, in 2022, Civility took over because of nine million per season for ten years. Despite breaking the agreement, the Extremaduran real estate company will remain linked to the club for five more years. Now it’s Riyadh Air’s turnwho was already the main sponsor of Atlético’s shirt since last season. The new agreement ensures between 250 and 300 million additional euros in nine years, the largest agreement in the club’s history.
The strategy of exploiting the name of the stadium is not new, but for some clubs it goes back a long way, such as the example of Arsenal. Already in the 2006/07 season, Emirates airline reached an agreement of around 100 million pounds for 15 years so that the stadium would bear his name (Emirates Stadium). It also included shirt sponsorship for seven years. In 2012 they renewed for 150 million until 2028. He Manchester City He is also an old acquaintance. Etihad Airways began sponsoring the shirt in 2009 and two years later signed a 10-year contract to change the name of City of Manchester Stadium to Etihad Stadium for 100 million pounds. They already paid 3.1 million a year for sponsorship of the kits. He City is involved in legal problems with the Premier League and since said agreement ended, it has not published renewal figures again.
In Europe, German football leads in this aspect, more than 70% of the teams have this commercial association. There are companies that own the naming rights of different stages. The most notable case is that of Allianzthe German multinational financial services company. It has a presence in eight stadiums on four continents. The total payment for being present at them is around 30 million euros annuallyaccording to KPMG. He Bayern Munich (Allianz Arena), the Juventus (Allianz Juventus Stadium), el A string (Allianz Riviera) and the Rapid Vienna (Allianz Stadion), among others. The German giant receives up to 7.3 million euros per season from this agreement. In Spainthis circumstance occurs with the bank BANK con Celta de Vigo y Deportivo de la Coruñawhich includes your we in the stadiums.
The last of these agreements in our country is that of Barcelona with Spotify to give name to the new Spotify Camp Nou. Twelve years signed. In the first four, the Barça club receives five million euros annually. In the last eight, that figure will rise to 20 million annually. In addition to the name of the stadium, it receives a total of 60 million euros per season for sponsoring the official kits and training clothing of the men’s and women’s first teams. The agreement in this section is only four years.
In South American football, the greatest alliance is between Sao Paulo and Bis chocolate. The historic venue (Morumbi) of one of the giants of Brazil was renamed MorumBis after an agreement 15 million dollars for three years. In Argentinathe stadium River Plate was renamed More Monumental after the agreement of 20 million dollars for seven years with the Más supermarket chain.
American sport, another dimension
In North America they play in another league, these agreements are closed in stratospheric and record figures. The legendary Staples Center of the Los Angeles Lakers is now called Crypto.com Arena. 700 million dollars for 20 years are the causes. The largest agreement in history in this regard. Without moving from the city, the house of Los Angeles Chargers y Los Angeles Rams (teams of NFL) also changed its name to SoFi Stadium. The SoFi company closed an agreement 625 million dollars for 20 years. There was disputed Super Bowl 2022 and will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. And this is what happens with the majority of team stadiums. NBA, NFL y NHL.
Follow the Diario AS channel on WhatsAppwhere you will find all the sport in a single space: the current news of the day, the agenda with the latest news of the most important sporting events, the most outstanding images, the opinion of the best AS brands, reports, videos, and some humor from time to time.
