The new Tottenham stadium name was officially revealed on Thursday. Apparently the North London club wants to emulate Jerry World in Texas.
After spending a year at Wembley Stadium, the Spurs are eager to break in their new grounds for the upcoming campaign. They hope to have the venue ready for the curtain raiser against Liverpool on Sept. 15 after a couple test events.
On Thursday, the club announced the new Tottenham stadium name, and it’s not exactly original: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
New home, new identity.
Unveiling our #SpursNewStadium brand identity.More - https://t.co/JaZk7AeRTS#COYS pic.twitter.com/mI1OOHjqz7
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 26, 2018
It seems as though Daniel Levy couldn’t find a good enough sponsor for the new Tottenham stadium name. But, this is not without precedent.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be one of the most expensive stadiums in England when completed, costing more than $1.1 billion. Similarly, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, cost $1.3 billion when it opened in 2009 as one of the most expensive in the world.
Just like Tottenham chairman Levy, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t find a suitable sponsor for the name of the stadium when it first opened. Jerry World was known as Cowboys Stadium for almost four years before AT&T bought the naming rights in 2013.
The first sporting event at Cowboys Stadium featured a London club. It was a friendly between Chelsea and Club America, and from personal experience the stadium was drab and dull back then before eventually being covered in advertisements. The first match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will feature the Tottenham academy team. Yay.
It’s unclear if the new Tottenham stadium name will remain as is for four years, but you can be sure Levy will do everything in his power to bring in the best naming deal possible to the new venue. Tottenham is losing out on up to nearly $20 million per year in revenue from naming rights, so expect a deal to be done more quickly than Cowboys Stadium.
There is an advantage to not selling naming rights in the first couple years. By keeping the name Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it builds identity and branding for the team.
Official statement on the @Seahawks vs @Raiders game at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
#NFLUK pic.twitter.com/HwHA6rGOdS— NFL UK (@NFLUK) July 26, 2018
Assuming the project avoids further delays that have put the NFL game between the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks at risk, the Tottenham name will be seen across the U.S. in a new way on October 14.
Some may be upset at the loss of the historic White Hart Lane name, but for me the biggest problem with the new Tottenham stadium name is the logo.
According to the Spurs website, the ‘A’ in stadium in the logo is an arrow pointing up to represent the club’s North London heritage. Huh?
While Tottenham has a long way to go to catch Arsenal as the best club in North London history, referring to North London in this manner is baffling to me. An arrow pointing up has no reference to directional north. Just because most maps we’re used to in the western world typically put north at the top of a map doesn’t mean north is up. What if I’m facing west when I look at the logo? Then it looks like it’s pointing west. It just doesn’t make much sense to me, especially when we live on a spherical planet flying in orbit around the sun at 18.5 miles per second.
But hey Tottenham, you do you.
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