The last derby with Wanda?

This Sunday there is derby in the Wanda. The Atletico Madrid-Real Madrid at 9:00 p.m. could be the last in the stadium Metropolitan with the commercial name of the Chinese company. Five years later, the sponsorship comes to an end, although it could continue temporarily due to some clauses. And several companies want to take over. There are already offers on the table to name the Metropolitan, confirm to EFE club supplies.

The Chinese conglomerate, which includes a real estate business, a commercial empire with more than 400 locations between shopping centers and hotels, more than 600 cinemas and sports investments in companies such as front (marketing and sports broadcasts) or Evertopobtained in 2017 the ‘naming rights’ of the new stadium of the Athleticinaugurated on September 16, 2017.

So Wanda was a shareholder of Atletico Madrid, whose board he joined in February 2015 with an investment of 45 million euros for 20% of the club’s titles. Just over two years after that operation, it became known that he would add his name to the new stadium.

The agreement, with an amount of 10 million euros per season according to various sources, had a duration of five campaigns, which would end at the end of this, 2021-22, and includes the sports cities of the Athletic in MajadahondaWest of Madridwhere the first men’s team trains, and the Alcala de Henares east of the capital, inaugurated in September 2019 and home to the women’s first team and various academy teams.

A PRECEDENT THAT HAS OPENED THE WAY

The Wanda Metropolitan was, at the time, a pioneer among the great Spanish clubs in making use of this resource to generate income. They had previously tried the Osasuna (Reyno de Navarra), Mallorca (Ono Estadi, Iberostar Estadi) or Espanyol (Power8 Stadium), but the rojiblanco team was the first to inaugurate a new stadium already with a commercial name. Then they followed him Celtic (Abanca Balaídos) Hello Royal Society (Reale Stadium). And next season will come Spotify Camp Nou.

“It set an interesting precedent, because in Spain there is very little tradition of marketing stadiums”, he analyzes in statements to EFE Rayde Luis Baez, sports and entertainment expert, founder of the strategic consultancy The Connect and co-founder of the sports technology firm sportthink.

Although its beginning was not “that of a commercial brand to use” because Wanda he was already a shareholder of the club, his arrival at Metropolitan was associated with a surge of Chinese capital into international football. “The big Chinese companies were investing a lot in international football as a way of repatriating knowledge. And that phase is over,” he adds. Baez

Despite resistance, many fans have adopted the name as their own. Be it for pleasure or for convenience when pronouncing it, there are not a few Atletico fans who refer to their stadium as ‘el Wanda‘, and they will have to get used to a new brand name taking over.

“Without a doubt, the most radical, difficult and important change is the first, that is, going from a local ‘naming’ (Vicente Calderon, Anoeta, balaídos, etc.) to a ‘naming right’. Once this is overcome, the rest should not be so complex”, he explains to EFE Francisco Torreblanca, business school marketing professor ESIC.

This circumstance will be, in any case, a challenge for the incoming brand. “If a new brand ends up signing the ‘naming right’ of the stadium, it will have to fight against this substitution effect with a powerful communication and activation policy, in order to end up overcoming the legacy of the old name, which requires some time. However, this is something usual in the world of sports, it happened for example with The leagueit was called LigaBBVA and was renamed Santander League“, points to EFE Oscar Iranzo, commercial director of the area Media & Sports in Spain Y Portugal of the multinational market research company nielson.

NEW STAGE

The agreement of Metropolitan comes to an end at a very different time in the relationship between the Chinese company and the rojiblanco club. Wanda is no longer a shareholder Athletic. In February 2018, he sold his stake, which had been diluted to 17% of the entity’s shares, to the Israeli group Quantum Pacific Groupwhich came to control 32% of the shareholders.

Although Wanda could remain in force for some time due to various contractual clauses, sources from the Madrid entity explain to EFE, it is likely that the Metropolitan will proceed to a name change.

There are deals on the table Atletico Madrid. The club studies these proposals, they confirm EFE from the entity. It is not an easy decision, because something as essential as the name of your house is at stake. The one that fans use to go to the venue every fifteen days, or every less, if Atlético confirms, one more season, its participation in the Champions League, great objective of the club.

At the moment it has not transpired which companies are applying to take over from the Chinese firm. Various media have reported that the crypto asset platform WhaleFinowned by the international group AmberGroup, could be the replacement for the Israeli investment platform Plus500 on the front of the t-shirt.

“Obviously they will have many offers because the stadium is wonderful and it not only offers matches every 15 days, but it will host rugby, events, concerts where it is a must-see on the circuits, and it has a technological layer that allows it to be exploited beyond the match days. Any commercial brand would be interested,” says Báez.

THE ATHLETIC COULD DOUBLE HIS INCOME

What should be the amount paid by the successor of Wanda? White Tower don’t doubt it. “Definitely a higher value. The brand Atletico Madrid has been gaining ground,” stresses White Towerwhich considers key what part of the agreement will be linked to sports, media and economic variables, and if the same current formula of name + traditional name (Metropolitan) and in what order.

Baez match. “Positioned as a ‘multivenue’ (multipurpose stadium), with a competitive team and today being the most modern stadium in the capital of Spain, you can perfectly double or triple. It will depend on how they position it, and at Atlético they are very good at that, at making packages with other assets with which they can extract something else,” he says. Baezin reference to the jersey, the sports city or the training kits.

The range of potential stakeholders is wide. For the ESIC professor, they can range from global mobility companies (automotive, airlines) to others as varied as food, insurance companies, digital platforms or telephony. “Any sector that focuses on ‘mass consumption’ and can integrate the action into its global strategy is interesting,” he adds.

For its part, Baez points to the technological field. “Now we are in the ‘blockchain’ and ‘crypto’ phase, I wouldn’t be surprised by a company of that type. Neither are consolidated technology companies, as is happening with Spotify Y amazonor a more traditional brand like bank, energy or consumer goods, or a sustainability company, being an efficient stadium,” he adds.

The commercial director of the sports and media area nielson in Spain Y Portugal it also points to the world of crypto assets. “The global sponsorship market is being capitalized by a series of categories, among which the market crypto/blockchain/NFT. Therefore, it is easy to intuit that this category will probably be the one that acquires the most prominence in the naming industry”, points out Oscar Iranzo, which puts for example the Staples Center in Los Angeles, to which Crypto.com will name for 20 years for 700 million dollars.

Many variables to select the successor of Wanda in it Metropolitan. A new challenge for Athletic of which he intends to obtain large economic rents.

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