So, according to an analysis done on stadium naming rights in 2022, United would command around £27m to rename Old Trafford and almost £52m for a new stadium. That's a quarter of the £2bn stadium paid off for a 10-year deal, not to mention the drastically increased matchday revenue from the 90k-100k seater stadium, increased fan spending through much better surrounding facilities and hosting a lot more events/matches.
I think Ratcliffe has set his mind on building a new stadium, something which I also agree with. There are way too many upsides, even the regeneration project of surrounding areas becomes much more attractive if it's a new stadium. Naming rights are a small price to pay, ideally it would still be 'brand name' New/Old Trafford.
Naming rights a small price to pay. You could equally argue that giving up a central part of a brand-driven brand for a generation to get Mason Mount is a small price to GET.
But I think this is about something much more important than £52m, and to which ten years is a measly perspective.
Football is competition, sporting and economic, the two can’t be separated. Yet what do millions of people pay money to the football industry for? It’s not the same reason they invest in stocks at Wall Street. They invest to be able to take part in an identity, and the emotions they invest are much more important than the money they invest - otherwise the wouldn’t invest their money at all.
Money are central to sporting success, but yet it is secondary. Without a special identity, possible for people to invest their emotions in, there is no money, money goes elsewhere. But what makes an identity capable of capturing emotions?
The components are different for different football clubs, but there must be concrete components. There are not so many. Man Utd is an assembly of legends, that is the potential that makes money go to Man Utd. Real, concrete legends. There is a name. There are the stories of 1958 and the Busby Babes. There are the first English team to win the Europa Cup. There are some names, comparatively longer remembered than most: Edwards, Charlton, Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo. There is red white and black. There is the famous stadium Old Trafford, known for it’s avid supporters (in spite of evidence, this legend persists). There are the myths of young kids and working class fighters breaking through in a Theatre of Dreams, in a daring fashion. Man Utd is not feasible as Disneyworld, because what makes Man Utd what it is, is not compatible with what Disneyworld is. The only difference is that Disneyworld is completely made up, made up to entertain. Man United must entertain too, said Sir Alex, but it must do so by being what it is. It cannot be completely made up, or the aspect of realness, of historicity, of something solid, of someting to gather around, is lost. And losing that, Man Utd have nothing that is not available to a thousand other business enterprises or football industries. A good stadium, good training facilitires, good coaches and players are a requisite for both sporting success and monetary success in the short term. But in the long term, they are dependent on something else, a real community with a real history, a real home and real people with real names. Otherwise the money will drift elsewhere when success is down and there is nothing in the club anymore to capture peoples emotions.
It’s important to note that different clubs have different things make them what they are, what gives them real qualities. One club may change stadium, another may change colours, a third may change name and call themselves Phillips Sports Verein and survive and even grow. But they have some markers of realness that they cannot ship without dissolving into something whatever-like. Man Utd is a club where even the stadium parts cannot be called The Coca Cola Stand, they must be named Sir Alex Ferguson Stand or Sir Bobby Charlton Stand or retain the traditional names of Stretford End or East stand. These stands may disappear if a new stadium has to be built, and so their names fade in time, but what we can’t afford to lose is the logic of the identity that makes it impossible to rename Stretford End as Emirates stand for ten years to be able to buy a Hannibal Mejbri more.
A pause for thought, what makes it possible that after trophy droughts from 1911-1952, 1968-1993, 2013-2024, Man Utd is still expected to compete for the CL and PL titles within a few seasons? It is because of money and history, but Man United have those money because of their history, so that is the one thing we can never afford to sell.
