Allianz would be interested in sponsorship if Chelsea sold new stadium naming rights — report

Insurance giants Allianz were said to be in talks over a potential shirt sponsorship with Chelsea for next season, and while that hasn’t quite panned out (they only offered half of the icky £40m deal that’s reportedly incoming), they seem to be willing to consider other avenues of sponsorship with us as well.

Unfortunately, this one’s just about as unpalatable as putting a casino front and center every time we play — even if, like gambling, it’s pervasive in the industry (especially in North America).

According to the Mail, Allianz would be interested in naming rights for the new stadium, whenever that might happen and however it might come about (stand-by-stand, complete rebuild, new site?).

Obviously, this is quite common practice and growing in football as well, and it was an idea floated during the planning phase of the Cathedral of Football plans as well — not to mention several years before then, too — but that hasn’t made it any more enticing for me, unfortunately.

Still, business is business, so I just hope when the time comes, it will be done as transparently as possible. “[Company name] Stamford Bridge” is fairly harmless, for example, and a few million in return won’t hurt.

In the shorter-term, the report adds that Allianz might be open to a shirt sleeve deal, so perhaps we can start our partnership there.