English Premiership rugby union club Saracens has announced that its home ground will revert to its former name of Copthall Stadium after Allianz stepped aside as the venue’s sponsor.
The stadium has been known as Allianz Park for over seven years but in February the German financial services company opted to end the deal early.
The termination of the deal came after Saracens was hit with a 105-point deduction for breaching salary cap regulations, condemning the club to relegation to the second-tier Championship.
Allianz also served as the main sponsor of Saracens but its deal concluded at the weekend as the 2019-20 season drew to a close. The deal was reportedly worth £2m (€2.2m/$2.6m) a year and had been due to expire in 2021.
Saracens has now confirmed that Allianz Park will revert to its old Copthall Stadium name “for an interim period”, suggesting a new naming-rights sponsor will be sought in time for next season.
Saracens said in a statement: “The club would like to thank Allianz for their support over a significant period and wish them all the best with their sponsorship of the Women’s Premier 15s and beyond.”
Saracens recently claimed a first for UK sport by agreeing a partnership with business services group Rentokil Initial, which became the club’s official hygiene partner.
Since the deal was signed, Rentokil Initial has provided a combination of bespoke disinfection services at Allianz Park and installed hand sanitiser dispensers around the ground. The service also included the use of UV lamps, electrostatic disinfection and mist blowing space treatment, as well as conventional ultra-low volume disinfection fogging.
Allianz sponsors a number of venues around the world, most notably Juventus’ Allianz Stadium and Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. The company also holds naming rights to Minnesota United’s Allianz Field, Nice’s Allianz Riviera, Allianz Parque in São Paulo and Allianz Stadion in Vienna.
In February, Allianz signed a long-term extension to its deal with Juventus, with the new agreement running from July 1, 2023 until June 30, 2020. The deal, which also grants Allianz brand exposure on Juventus’ training kit, will be worth €103.1m.
Image: oatsy40/CC BY 2.0/Edited for size
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