RCD Mallorca has agreed a one-season extension to its stadium naming rights deal with the Mallorca Tourism Foundation (FMT), which is now set to see the Spanish LaLiga football club receive a sponsorship fee for promoting the island as a sports tourism destination.
The club’s home has been known as Visit Mallorca Estadi for the past two seasons, with RCD Mallorca having originally donated the rights in June 2020 as a means to help Mallorca’s tourism economy recover from the impact of COVID-19.
The deal announced between the club and Council of Mallorca today (Wednesday) will maintain the stadium’s name for the 2022-23 season and also grants various promotion and advertising rights related to the team, both in the Spanish and international markets.
However, the rights will now be worth €1.5m (£1.27m/$1.55m) to the club, with the Council of Mallorca, through the FMT, contributing €750,000 of this sum, with the Government of the Balearic Islands and Palma City Council also adding €500,000 and €250,000, respectively.
The Council of Mallorca said the naming rights deal is part of its strategy to “deseasonalise tourism” through the promotion of sports tourism, in this case binding the Visit Mallorca brand to the stadium and club.
The Visit Mallorca Estadi brand is said to generate a media impact of €44.9m per year, according to studies conducted by the Kantar Media agency.
Andreu Serra, Minister for Tourism and Sport at the Council of Mallorca, said: “It’s a good deal for Mallorca and an opportunity that allows us to take advantage of the momentum that comes with having a LaLiga team that generates a differentiating impact on other tourist destinations, and to use a high-level sport such as football as a channel to explain that we want to work for sports tourism of quality, deseasonalising beyond the sun and beach focus of the summer months.
“In addition, it is important because the agreement goes beyond a single action and the naming of the stadium, it is a set of actions to carry out throughout the 22-23 season which associates the island with high competition and sporting events.”
In April, the club was given the green light for a major redevelopment project at Visit Mallorca Estadi that will include the removal of the athletics track and installation of a new roof.
RCD Mallorca was granted approval to make improvements by Palma City Council in tandem with the 40-year extension of its lease to play at the 23,000-capacity stadium through to 2064. The first phase of the stadium remodelling began at the end of last season with the removal of the athletics track, which will see the stands brought forward to just eight metres from the pitch.
RCD Mallorca presented its plans to upgrade the stadium in January. The venue opened in 1999 and RCD Mallorca feels the stadium must evolve and adapt to “changing times”.
Image: RCD Mallorca
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