By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
January 22 – London’s Wembley stadium will not be going the same way as other iconic grounds and be re-titled as part of a naming rights deal – at least not yet, according to the English Football Association.
Speculation has been growing in England that in order to build vital additional revenues the FA has come to an arrangement with telecommunications company EE.
But officials insist that no plans are in place for Wembley, arguably the world’s most historic football stadium whether in its old guise or new, to be rebranded.
“There are no naming rights available for Wembley Stadium and there is nothing to report about any rights deals being signed with any company at present,” the FA said.
Aligning Wembley with a naming rights deal would help the FA repay the debt it took on to rebuild the national stadium at a cost of £757m – a debt that has at times been crippling and affecting many of the decisions made by the FA management . Such a move would be highly controversial in England, but the FA Cup, the world’s oldest domestic knockout competition, dispensed with tradition years ago and entered into a naming partnership, currently with Budweiser.
The FA are reportedly seeking around £8m per year for a lead partner for Wembley and phone giant EE, formed when Orange and T-Mobile merged in 2010, is the favourite to pick this up.
Several Premier League grounds already have similar agreements in place including Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium and Wigan’s DW Stadium. But it would appear nothing is on the table – yet – for the national stadium which was re-opened in 2007 and will play host to this season’s Champions League final in May.
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