Manchester City have confirmed that the City of Manchester Stadium, aka Eastlands, will be renamed the Etihad Stadium after signing a 10-year deal with the airline. The Abu Dhabi-based company is already the club’s shirt sponsor.
“We are delighted to be expanding our relationship with Etihad Airways through this partnership agreement,” said City chief executive Garry Cook.
The new agreement is sure to be reviewed by UEFA as City are owned by Sheikh Mansour, who is a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, and Etihad Airways is the National Airline of United Arab Emirates
UEFA is implementing its financial fair play regulations which come into force this summer but will not take full effect until 2013. Under the terms of the new rules, teams will not be able to spend more than the income they generate from the football side of their business – which includes gate receipts, TV deals and sponsorship.
Man City are a long way from break-even as they posted loses of £123.3m last season.
City are expected to earn 300 million pounds over the next 10- years from Etihad Airways, an amount that will go a long way to bringing City to break-even.