ABU DHABI // Tottenham Hotspur representatives are hopeful their sojourn to the Middle East can help the club embark on a more momentous journey by closing the gap on the Premier League's "big four". Paul Barber, Tottenham's executive director, yesterday said that giving a company naming rights to a new 58,000-capacity stadium could help the London club break up the established hierarchy because of the extra income it would generate.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have enjoyed a stranglehold in competing for the league title over the past decade. They are widely accepted as England's representatives in the Champions League. Tottenham will speak to firms in the UAE and neighbouring states as well as in the Far East and the US before a decision is made on whose name will adorn their new stadium which will be built next to their existing White Hart Lane ground hopefully by 2012. Barber hopes the worldwide lure of the Premier League in being watched in more than 200 countries will attract investors. He said that Tottenham hoped to finalise an agreement over the next "six to 12 months".
"The current stadium holds 38,000 which does not meet our long-term needs," said Barber. "This new stadium will take us up to 58,000. We have 25,000 people on a waiting list every season for season tickets. We need to meet that demand as quickly as we can, because the four teams who are regularly in the Champions League have all got bigger stadiums, and are all bringing in bigger revenues. They can all buy bigger players. The gap between us will widen if we are not careful.
"We have identified the Middle East and the Far East as two regions we are most likely to find a naming rights partner. "Since we've been over here, the interest in being part of what will probably be the only football stadium that will be built in London over the next decade is enormous. It would represent great value." Barber said Arsenal are the role models. Their London neighbours announced a £100million (Dh538.2m) deal with Emirates Airlines in 2004 that gave them naming rights to the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium until 2021.
They moved out of a Highbury ground that held just more than 38,000 in 2006 due to the need to increase revenue. "Arsenal are securing somewhere between £1m and £2m extra revenue, per match," said Barber. "That does create a big advantage with that kind of additional revenue coming into the club." dkane@thenational.ae