Since the ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2019, the business brains behind the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have courted an ultra-lucrative naming rights deal.
Initially, Daniel Levy wanted £25m per season. But six years on, Levy has been forced out of his position as chairman and Tottenham are still without a name above the door for their 62,850-seat home ground.
Under the self-funding model favoured by ENIC, that’s a lot of revenue to miss out on every season. And for Thomas Frank and Fabio Paratici, it’s money that could be invested on new signings and wages.
For what it’s worth, Levy always maintained that having the Spurs brand directly associated with cultural icons like the NFL, Beyonce, Formula 1, Anthony Joshua and others who came to town meant that, while Spurs were still actively looking for a naming rights deal, they could afford to wait for the right partner.
Whether or not that was a face-saving exercise as a succession after commercial big wigs tried and failed to secure a deal that met Levy’s standards, we’ll let you decide. But as Brand Finance valuation director Hugo Hensley framed it in exclusive conversation with TBR Football earlier this year: “There are lots of Beyoncé fans, but how many are looking for a Premier League club?”
There have been false dawns in the past, and TBR Football is aware of several brands who, at various stages, thought they were very close to striking a deal only to be knocked back at the eleventh hour.
However, last month saw the first concrete steps taken towards a deal. Incidentally, it came barely two weeks after Spurs parted company with Levy, although he still holds a significant stake in the club.
Tottenham announced that Sports Illustrated Tickets would become the first member of a new commercial initiative: ‘The Collective’. In a 12-year deal, Sports Illustrated agreed to sponsor the East Stand, through a variety of activations, including signage and a new hospitality club.
And in new details, the industry publication SportBusiness has revealed that Spurs plan to have similar sponsorship deals in place for all four stands within 18-24 months and, crucially, they will then turn their attention to a naming rights arrangement for the whole stadium.
SportBusiness spoke to Spurs’ chief revenue officer Ryan Norys for their piece. He told them that they are looking at potential partners in the consumer products, technology and high net worth sectors.
“We’re identifying how we authentically integrate brands into these spaces without taking away from the design, the architecture… You don’t want it to become a billboard,” said Norys.
It was also revealed that the MetLife Stadium’s segmented approach – where an umbrella naming rights deal works in tandem with four gate partners in HCLTech, Verizon, Moody’s and Bud Light – has been an inspiration for the new approach.
Even without a naming rights deal, Spurs have been riotously successful in the commercial department since moving into their new digs.
Annual revenue from sponsorship, merchandise sales and events has quadrupled since their last match at White Hart Lane and stood at £255m at the last count.
But not everyone in football finance is confident in Spurs’ segmented approach to stadium naming rights that the new Spurs regime, overseen by Vinai Venkatesham, is using.
Speaking exclusively to TBR Football, Richard Busby – CEO of commercial consultancy BDS Sponsorship – Spurs’ strategy said: “Having a number of primary partners below a title sponsor is nothing new, but four is quite a low number. It’s normal to go for between six and eight – and sometimes more.
Busby is an expert in the naming rights field, with his firm having worked on Coventry City’s deal for their stadium and the Transport for London Cable Car’s brand partnership with Emirates among others.
“The problem will come if they are negotiating with primary sponsors in the consumer, tech or high net worth areas as that will make it very difficult to get a stadium naming rights deal from any of those sectors. Naming rights and primary sponsors will all expect category exclusivity.
“A cardinal rule of sponsorship is sell the top of the pyramid first and then primary sponsors afterwards.”