Premier League club in talks with Gulf investors

STADIUM SPONSORS: Spurs are in talks with a dozen companies from the Gulf over investment opportunities for its new stadium, pictured.

A dozen companies in the Gulf are in talks with English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur over potential investment in its new 58,000-seater stadium in London.

Officials from the Premier League side are in the region in a bid to sell the naming rights for the stadium and look for possible sponsors of its team shirt.

The club was in talks with three or four companies in Dubai, in addition to firms in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar, according to Paul Barber, executive director of Tottenham.

Tottenham is looking to cash in on the tremendous popularity of the Premier League in the Gulf.

“There’s a lot of excitement here about what we’re doing as this will probably be the only football stadium to be built in London in the next decade,” he told Arabian Business in an interview on Wednesday.

He said financing the stadium was “challenging” for the club in the current financial climate.

“The critical part of that financing is finding a sponsor and we have identified the Middle East and the Far East as most likely to deliver that partner,” he said.

But he denied the trip was made with the intention of finding potential buyers of the club.

In addition to the stadium, the development will also include 450 new homes, offices, a 150-bedroom hotel and one of the largest supermarkets in the UK.

The club’s shirt sponsorship agreement with internet casino operator Mansion, worth around $12.3m annually, expires next year.

Barber said it was possible the shirt and stadium sponsor would be the same company, as was the case with the club’s North London rivals Arsenal, which struck a similar deal with the UAE’s Emirates airline in 2004, reportedly worth $174m over ten years.

He said any deal could last as long as 15 years.

Barber said it was difficult to put a figure on how much the deal for the naming rights of the stadium was worth as any agreement with a partner could involve a “gift in kind”, such as construction of the stadium in return for sponsorship. The cost of the stadium is believed to be around $434m.

There were sponsorship opportunities from companies across different sectors in the Middle East and the Far East with emerging brands which were looking for exposure as they built their businesses internationally, Barber said.

Broadcast in 211 territories, the Premier League has a global audience of 4.77 billion every season. Over the last three seasons, Tottenham has been among the top five clubs in the competition in terms of global television coverage of matches, according to Barber.

Around 162.6 million people supported the club worldwide, he said.

“For a global brand, that’s a hugely attractive proposition to be able to reach that many people in that many places from one football club,” he said.

Barber said he would return to the region in a couple of weeks to visit Kuwait and Oman and would be back in the region twice more in the next quarter to build relationships with investors.

The club would also visit the Asia-Pacific region in the summer for the same purpose, he said.

Barber has also been in talks with government officials and the UAE Premier League, with a view to establishing football links with local clubs if commercial partnerships with businesses in the region go ahead.

He said this could lead to Tottenham providing coaching for local clubs or staging exhibition matches.

He said the club would announce a partnership with one of the two big food retailers in the UK for the supermarket in the next few weeks and was in talks with four or five hotel companies over the takeover of the hotel.

The club has applied for planning permission for the stadium, which would take 36 months to build once construction starts.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Tottenham an "attacking" club
Posted by Harry Barracuda, Manama, Bahrain on Sunday 26 April 2009 at 14:26 UAE time


Saleh,

A club that isn't decent enough to win the league in the last 48 years obviously isn't very good at it, or haven't you noticed?

The current crop of players are workmanlike and average, and I'm afraid to say that Tottenham will be doing next year what they've been doing since 1961 - getting beaten regularly.

Harry has been to the Barracuda to many times !!
Posted by EB, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 26 April 2009 at 12:19 UAE time


Harry - I don't think that you are a real football fan as it is absolutely absurb to think the way that you do i.e. a sponsor would be laughed at for sponsoring spurs. Tottenham Hotspur have a proud history in football and if you asked any true english football fan there's not one of them that would want the perimership without spurs - - it isn't always about what you win but what you represent and how you compete - Spurs represent an all out attacking football team which I as a sports person adore and your comments just highlight what you are not - a lover of football.

Tottenham Hotspur
Posted by Saleh, Dubai, UAE on Friday 24 April 2009 at 02:57 UAE time


you know what i think it wont be a waste of time it will be a waste of money in buying a team like Tottenham Hotspur if you really got money to buy a team why dont you spend it where its worth like man utd, Chelsea, Liverpool ,Barcelona... these teams will give you the best preformance in football

162 million fans?
Posted by Harry Barracuda, Manama, Bahrain on Thursday 23 April 2009 at 18:06 UAE time


I doubt theres 162,000. Tottenham haven't won the league since before most of their supporters were born. Anyone sponsoring them is going to have to watch their brand being laughed at around the world as they indulge in their annual assault on being out of all competitions by the end of March.

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