Man Utd sponsors keen on stadium naming rights deal

Manchester United’s new sponsors insist ‘Old Trafford is Old Trafford’ but they would be interested in some kind of commercial partnership around the club’s stadium plans.

United will have the Snapdragon logo on their shirts for the next three years, with the option to extend for a further two after a £60m-a-year deal with US-based Qualcomm Technologies was announced at the beginning of last month.

That will take it to around the time United hope to be close to completing their stadium project, whether that is the 100,000-capacity new build on land close to Old Trafford which is the preference, or a slightly cheaper remodelling of the current stadium.

Having committed itself to United for such an extended period of time, Qualcomm’s chief marketing officer Don McGuire feels it would be natural for the organisation to be interesting in a naming rights deal, which is one of the methods co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Taskforce on the project is looking at to meet a construction cost that could exceed £2bn.

"Old Trafford is Old Trafford. It should always be Old Trafford," said McGuire.

"But there could be a brand attached to that in some way shape or form, a ‘powered by someone,’ or an “at” or whatever."

United’s US tour game with Spanish side Real Betis was played in San Diego, in a stadium officially called the Snapdragon Stadium at Bashor Field, which was the name given to it in 2019 when local businesswoman Dianne L Bashor donated $15m (£11.71m) to help pay for construction costs.

"This (sponsorship) deal is not inexpensive anyway but we are working very closely with the team on the reimagination of Old Trafford and Carrington from a technology and innovation standpoint. But if it makes sense we are always looking out for opportunities."

After successive pre-season tours to California it remains to be seen where United will target in 2025.

McGuire says China and India are huge markets for the Snapdragon brand and one of the reasons for their tie-up with United was the number of fans they have in both countries.

"We’d love for them to play in China or India," he said.

However, arranging a pre-season trip to either country is not straightforward for climactic reasons.

United have not visited China since 2019 when they played Tottenham in Shanghai. Three years earlier a planned match against Manchester City was scrapped after heavy rain in Beijing left the pitch at the Birds Nest stadium unplayable.

No major European team toured China this summer amid reports a planned tournament involving PSG, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid had to be scrapped as promised payments to the clubs were not met.

In 2020, United had been due to play in India for the first time but that was scrapped following the outbreak of Covid-19.