US ticketing technology company Stage Front has acquired naming rights to the home stadium of Spanish football club RCD Espanyol.
The multi-year deal officially rebrands RCDE Stadium as Stage Front Stadium. Espanyol, which was recently relegated from the top-tier LaLiga, has been without a stadium naming-rights sponsor since its deal with gaming technology provider Power8 ended in 2016.
Stage Front will use the partnership to turn the stadium into a “benchmark” for the events industry worldwide, enabling the facility to become profitable. Stage Front has existing links to Spanish football as a partner of LaLiga North America.
The company will seek to improve the ticketing and VIP experiences for all events held at the newly branded Stage Front Stadium, which has a capacity of 40,000. The partnership also includes a strategic collaboration for Stage Front to “energise” the stadium and make its facilities profitable by positioning it as a reference for shows and events on a global scale.
Additionally, Stage Front will provide the stadium with its latest technology, while Espanyol will activate as many of its own spaces as possible to give visibility and promote the different options offered by the company.
The stadium is on a shortlist of 15 venues that are seeking to stage matches during the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Spain is bidding to co-host alongside Portugal and Morocco.
Antoni Alegre, deputy director at Espanyol, said: “This is a strategic move that not only brings economic benefits to the club in the form of sponsorship, but also places our stadium as one of the best infrastructures for the celebration of any event worldwide, inside and outside of football. It is also relevant that this is happening at the moment when the stadiums are being selected for the 2030 World Cup bid.”
Tulaib Faizy, Stage Front’s vice-president of strategic alliances, added: “We are delighted to announce that Stage Front has secured the naming rights to the iconic Espanyol stadium. This partnership represents a significant milestone for our company, and we are excited to be a part of the Espanyol family. We are looking forward to working closely with the club to create unforgettable experiences for both the fans and everyone who visits the stadium.”
Espanyol has introduced a number of tech-focused initiatives at the stadium in recent years. In February 2020, the club claimed a first for Spain when announcing plans to create a cashless stadium, and it has since introduced NFT experiences and crypto payments to the venue.
