Football Finance expert Kieran Maguire has claimed that companies may not be willing to pay the fee Daniel Levy is demanding for the naming rights of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It has been four and a half years since the opening of the new stadium but the club still does not have an official naming rights partner.
It was explained by Daniel Levy in the recent fan forum that the club have made a conscious decision to wait as they are pleased the the benefits accrued to the club’s brand as a result of hosting sporting events and concerts at the ‘Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg two weeks ago, Levy reiterated that the club are not in a hurry to find a naming rights partner and would only consider ‘the right money in the right sector’.
Daniel Levy may need to lower his demand at Spurs
However, Maguire believes that the longer Spurs wait to find a naming rights partner, the less lucrative the idea will become for interested brands.
When asked why Tottenham have not been able to sell the naming rights of their stadium yet, he told Football Insider: “I think this is to do with Daniel Levy’s asking price.
“Sir Alex Ferguson famously said that negotiating with Daniel Levy was more painful than having his hip replaced and that does appear to be a common theme.
“Levy is a tough negotiator – he’s fair, but he’s tough. From the perspective of sponsors, the price that’s being demanded and perhaps the length of the deal has not been to their satisfaction. The club will want to lock somebody in for a long period of time.
“Sponsors will have looked at their overall budgets and felt that the money could be spent better elsewhere, especially as we’re now three or four seasons into the new stadium and therefore the naming rights become a bolted-on name.
“It makes it more difficult the longer you wait because you have a name that becomes irreplaceable. You’ve only got to look at places such as Coventry and Bolton Wanderers who have been through a myriad of names with ever-decreasing circles of financial benefits to the club.”
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Magurie’s point about the naming rights being valued less with time would be applicable if the stadium is being referred to as ‘White Hart Lane’. However, the fact that is known by the generic ‘Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’, means that the name remains easily replaceable for brands.