Chelsea plays down naming rights speculation 26/02/2010 |
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Chelsea has denied it is close to signing a naming rights deal for Stamford Bridge.
Chief executive Ron Gourlay revealed in November that the club would consider selling the rights to a blue chip company providing the Stamford Bridge name was retained.
And reports emerged this week that Brazilian oil company Petrobras had been offered a deal but was set to turn it down.
However, a source close to the club dismissed the Petrobras link and played down speculation that a deal is imminent.
Head of communications Steve Atkins confirmed to Sports City: “At the moment, we’re looking at who might be interested, but we’re still very much in the early stages of the process.
“We said at the very beginning that we weren’t going to give a running commentary. We will make an announcement when we’re ready.”
Atkins reiterated what Gourlay said last year about Chelsea having to keep up with its rivals.
“We’re looking at naming rights because we know we have to be creative with how we generate more revenue on match days,” Atkins added.
“We’re stuck with a stadium of a certain size and some of our competitors have bigger grounds that bring in more revenue.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s head of sponsorship Damian Willoughby has admitted that the club is looking to sign a timing sponsor – but denied claims that an agency has been appointed exclusively to negotiate the deal.
It was suggested last week that TK Media had been handed briefs to look for timing sponsors for both Chelsea and neighbours Fulham.
But Damian Willoughby told Sports City: “We have a select group of agencies and we talk to them on a non-exclusive basis. We’re speaking to a number of brands across a variety of categories.
“We’ve not had a timing partner and we feel there’s some opportunity to provide a platform there but there haven’t been extensive discussions.”
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