England‘s Rugby Football Union (RFU) has announced that Twickenham will be re-titled the Allianz Stadium after a significant naming rights deal with the insurance giant.
The “long-term partnership” will see the home of English rugby renamed as part of a deal that will also focus on community and grassroots investement, as well as supporting the future of the men’s and women’s senior sides.
This landmark deal follows a period of turbulence during and after the Covid pandemic which has seen the RFU and other unions assessing options to safeguard for the future financially and increase investment in the sport.
The union considered a radical plan to sell the ground entirely earlier this year, before opting to instead focus on redeveloping the Twickenham site, though no plans have yet been signed off.
The agreement ends more than 100 years of English rugby’s home being known as Twickenham. The Red Roses will be the first English side to grace the stadium under its new name on 14 September against New Zealand, while the first men’s international match follows on 2 November against the All Blacks.
Allianz Stadium will also host further autumn internationals against Australia, South Africa and Japan, and the final of next year’s Women’s World Cup in September 2025.
A statement from the RFU read: “Allianz and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) today announce the next step in their partnership, as Allianz extends its support for rugby by making a significant, long-term investment in the game.
“The partnership will be transformative. It will see Allianz and the RFU offer significant support to the grassroots game through financial investment that aims to secure future investment into the community game.”
The deal is the eighth of its kind for Allianz, which also sponsors the home of Bayern Munich, known as the Allianz Arena. The German company previously sponsored Saracens’ stadium in north London and became the title partners of the top flight of English women’s domestic rugby, Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), in 2020.
RFU CEO, Bill Sweeney, said: “We’re really pleased to be expanding our partnership with Allianz, enabling further investment into the community and professional game. 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 versus New Zealand on 14 September.”
The idea of selling the naming rights for Twickenham has long been mooted and was discussed internally in the build-up to England’s hosting of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Executives at the time cautioned, though, that they were unlikely to remove Twickenham from the stadium’s name entirely given the rich history and longevity at the world’s largest rugby stadium, which was opened in 1909.
This agreement follows similar naming rights deals between the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and Principality for the Millennium Stadium, and the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and Aviva. Scotland’s Murrayfield is currently sponsored by Scottish Gas.
The Cardiff and Dublin venues were relatively newly-built at the time of the deals, though, and have become commonly referred to by the name of the sponsor. Such association is unlikely for Allianz given Twickenham’s prominence among rugby fans.
The deal comes at an intriguing time internally within the RFU. Chief financial officer Sue Day, a former England captain, will depart the organisation to oversee women’s football at the Football Association (FA) in December.
The highly-regarded Day is thought to have been seen as a possible successor to chief executive Sweeney before making the decision to take on a new challenge earlier this year.
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