West Ham beaten by Twickenham to Allianz naming rights deal

The renaming of Twickenham as “Allianz Stadium” means that it is back to square one for the owners of West Ham United as they search for a naming rights deal for their ground.
The RFU announced on Monday that after more than 100 years as the home of English rugby, Twickenham will be renamed from next month.
The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) and West Ham had been in advanced talks with Allianz, but the insurance giant has chosen to go with Twickenham instead.
The LLDC had been hoping for £5million a year from a naming rights deal for the London Stadium; West Ham would share anything over £4million. The Twickenham deal is thought to be worth twice that sum to English rugby.
In March last year the publicly funded LLDC’s chief executive, Lyn Garner, told the London Assembly that she was “very confident” it would finally agree a naming rights deal for the loss-making stadium.
West Ham are open to buying the stadium but that was ruled out last week by London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who told City AM: “I think people need to realise that if you sell off this asset, it’s gone for good. It’s one of our crown jewels.”
The Twickenham deal comes at a time when rugby union has been struggling financially — three Premiership sides went into administration last season — and the RFU has been exploring ways of increasing its income as it is heavily reliant on revenue from ticket sales and hospitality, with TV money being a much smaller percentage of earnings compared with football.
There are also moves to give central contracts to up to 25 England players that are worth £150,000 a year.
Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, said of the Allianz deal: “This is an opportunity to celebrate our stadium’s proud legacy while developing it for the future.
“This partnership will support us in moving the game in a direction which serves all rugby, from minis to the elites, from club coaches to our national coaches and everything in between.
“Over the coming years the RFU and Allianz will work together to enhance visitor experiences and provide fans and local community with the best possible match-day and event experiences.
“As we head towards hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 it is entirely fitting that the first game to be played at the newly named Allianz Stadium will be the Red Roses [England’s women’s side] versus New Zealand on 14 September.”
An RFU insider accepted some traditionalists would oppose the move, but said that naming rights for Twickenham had been discussed by the RFU council with very little, if any, opposition.
The RFU also pointed out that all the other home nations have naming rights deals for their stadiums, namely Wales’s Principality Stadium, Scotland’s Scottish Gas Murrayfield and Ireland’s Aviva Stadium.
• Stephen Jones: I’m going to surprise you – RFU renaming Twickenham makes perfect sense
Allianz sponsors eight stadiums around the world including Bayern Munich’s football stadium and a multi-purpose venue in Sydney.
Colm Holmes, the chief executive of Allianz UK, said: “We are delighted to partner with the RFU to further invest in grassroots clubs, our national teams and in the home of England Rugby.”
The RFU press release also quoted the England wing Anthony Watson as saying: “Innovative deals like this are important in moving rugby on. The investment, not only in the professional side but also for the community game, is so important and will hopefully get more people active, playing the sport, enjoying the sport and watching the sport.”