Chelsea to lose sponsorship revenue over new stadium name choice

Chelsea are reportedly prepared to miss out on sponsorship revenue in order to keep ‘Stamford Bridge’ as part of the name of their redeveloped stadium.

The Premier League champions are currently working on how they will finance the rebuild of their west London home.

The club was given the all-clear to begin work on the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge earlier this year, with planning permission given for a new 60,000-seat arena.

Ambitious designs by architects Herzog & de Meuron, who built the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, were green lit by the Mayor of London in March.

An obvious source of revenue to finance the £500million project is to give away naming rights.

Arsenal and Man City are among those who have enjoyed financial gains with their respective deals with airlines Emirates and Etihad. Tottenham, who will soon move into a new home, plan to follow this path.

Such a format would have less impact from a sponsorship perspective and would therefore command a lower price tag.

Development is expected to begin in 2020 with the new stadium potentially opening in time for the 2023/24 season.