Manchester United could earn an extra £17m a year if they sold naming rights to Old Trafford, according to a new report into sponsorship rights.
The study from valuation experts American Appraisal has revealed just how much money each Premier League club could expect to bring in if they were to follow the examples of Manchester City and Arsenal who are the only two sides to take the plunge and sell off stadium naming rights.
According to the report, Man United could expect to receive around £17m a year for the naming rights to Old Trafford. Somehow though, American Appraisal believes that still lags Manchester City, whose naming rights are worth £18m. Not sure who anyone can say that the naming right for Old Trafford are worth less than those for the Etihad.
Despite this, United’s earning potential is still more than £10m ahead of current Premier League leaders Arsenal, who are third on American Appraisal’s list at £6.75m, ahead of Liverpool (£6.06m), Tottenham (£5.76m) and Chelsea (£5.45m).
If all Premier League sides were to sell their naming rights it would raise an extra £50m in revenue.
American Appraisal managing director Mike Weaver was quick to point out some of the benefits for selling naming rights.
“The real opportunity is for those clubs who have not yet made the leap of faith to re-name their stadiums,” he said. “There is untapped revenue and when it comes to negotiating shirt sponsorship, stadium naming rights has to be a strong consideration too.”
he report also points out that it would be a risk to rebrand such an iconic stadium, as it would push the value down somewhat.
With the introduction of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations, stadium naming rights are likely to become a more important way of increasing revenues for Premier League sides.
Real Madrid are said to be looking at selling the naming rights to the iconic Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. It is a new stadium, selling naming rights like Man City and Arsenal did is something that the public accepts. However changing the name of an iconic ground purely for monetary reasons is something that the public is very such against as Newcastle United found out when they tried to change the name of St James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena.
