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- Spurs and Google having ‘meaningful’ discussions
- Amazon and Nike had been linked with deal in 2020
Tottenham Hotspur and Google are in talks over a naming rights deal for the English top-flight soccer club’s stadium, according to The Athletic.
Since moving into their UK£1 billion (US$1.1 billion) home in 2019, Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy has taken his time in the search for a lucrative naming rights partner.
The Telegraph reported in 2020 that the club had been hoping for a deal worth as much as UK£25 million (US$27.6 million) per season over 15 years, equating to UK£375 million (US$414 million) in total.
Amazon and Nike were linked with a deal more than two years ago, though the impact of Covid-19 on the economy reportedly meant that the north London outfit needed to rethink its asking price.
It is not clear if Google is prepared to meet Levy’s original demands, or how far along the discussions are, but The Athletic has described the talks as ‘meaningful’.
Speaking to SportsPro in May, Spurs’ chief commercial officer Todd Kline said there had been “many twists and turns” in the stadium naming rights process but he was “happy” and “excited” with where the club was.
“We’re running a process,” he said. “It’s been a rewarding process. We’ve met some amazing people throughout it and I think we’ll land on the right partner for the right venue. And sometimes in doing complicated deals, sometimes patience is the move.”
SportsPro says…
Patience could prove to be a virtue if Spurs are able to wrap up a deal. Google already has several high-profile sports partnerships, including with the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the McLaren Formula One team. Spurs’ multipurpose ground offers plenty of appeal for the tech giant.
As well as Premier League and Uefa Champions League matches, the venue stages National Football League (NFL) games and there is speculation it could even welcome a permanent franchise. The stadium has also hosted the first heavyweight boxing world title fight between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, rugby league’s Challenge Cup Final and large concerts.
Securing Google would be the latest achievement for Levy as he tries to establish Spurs as one of the Premier League’s biggest brands. For Kline, it would be the second mega naming rights agreement of his career, having led negotiations over the sponsorship of the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium in a deal reported to be worth some US$250 million over 18 years.
