Manchester United is to explore selling the naming rights to its new £2bn Old Trafford stadium.
Outlining a “sanity, not vanity” approach to the new development, Collette Roche, the club’s New Stadium Development CEO explained:
“I don’t know what the stadium will be called but we’ve been really vocal that we are going to potentially look at naming rights to the stadium.
“It’s an important revenue stream and something we’ve discussed with our fan advisory board.”
She added:
“Everybody realises affordable accessible ticket prices are really important. To do that, we need to generate revenue streams in other places as well to build the stadium that everyone said is going to be really expensive.”
In 2023, Sir Jim Ratcliffe said that the prospect of renaming Old Trafford “would be a heresy” and that he hadn’t considered selling the rights.
READ MORE – Manchester United reportedly consider the “heresy” of selling Old Trafford naming rights
However, with a £2bn cost for the “Wembley of the North” it’s no wonder Roche has gone with a “sanity not vanity” approach to the sponsorship.
The proposed 100,000 seater stadium could bring in £15m a year for the club according to the Sponsor’s European Stadium Naming Rights Fair Market Value Report, which was published earlier this year.
That would make it the most lucrative naming rights deal in the UK, although still behind the £18.4m a year that Spotify pay for the Spotify Camp Nou.
United revealed the Old Trafford masterplan yesterday, with the 370-acre development set to create 48k new jobs and 15k new homes.
The stadium itself has been shifted a bit further away from the current one and is now 350 yards away, on land it acquired in June, currently home to a go-kart track.
Although the visuals don’t contain Foster and Partners’ “circus tent” design, Roche said that the club would be working with the designers and consulting with fans over the final design, which would be set to be revealed later this year, or early next.
The plan is to open the stadium by 2035.
