US stadium naming rights and the pricing mistake European clubs keep making

US and European stadium naming rights are often compared using the same pricing logic. That comparison is understandable, but it is also where many European clubs go wrong.

According to research by The Sponsor, 88% of sports stadiums in the US have a naming-rights partner, compared to just 12% in Europe. The issue is not the appeal of stadium naming rights, nor the scale of European audiences. It is that stadiums occupy very different positions within the sponsorship hierarchy in the US and Europe, and assets that sit in different positions are priced differently by the market.