Tottenham Hotspur’s rivals Chelsea have made waves by poaching a key figure from the Spurs organization. It appears to be a move to advance plans for a new stadium.
Todd Kline, Tottenham’s chief commercial officer (CCO), has joined Chelsea shortly after resigning from the club, according to the Telegraph.
“Chelsea have poached Klein shortly after he announced his decision to step down as Spurs’ CCO,” the newspaper said. “He was to remain on the payroll after stepping down from Spurs, but will join Chelsea in a senior business role. He will become executive chairman of commercial operations, a role vacated by Tom Glick.”
Tottenham hired Klein three years ago to deliver a lucrative stadium naming rights package worth a staggering £1 billion ($1.67 billion). He is on the club’s board of directors.
But Tottenham still hasn’t named its new stadium, leaving it as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In the meantime, Klein’s move to Chelsea is more than just a break.
As the press notes, “Klein is expected to carry out a large part of Chelsea’s stadium planning, although the club has not yet announced whether it will rebuild Stamford Bridge or move to another location. Whichever option the club chooses, Chelsea will seek naming rights.”
American-born Klein famously sold the naming rights to Dolphins Stadium in Miami in 2016. The stadium, now used by the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins, was renamed ‘Hard Rock Stadium’ and brought in £180 million ($301.9 million) for the club over 18 years.
Klein’s deal was the third-largest in sports at the time, as the Dolphins were the 13th most valuable franchise in the NFL.
The stadium is also where the South Korean national soccer team, led by then-head coach Hong Myung-bo, played its final exhibition match against Ghana before the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The stadium will also host the 2026 North and Central American (co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico) World Cup.
While Klein was unable to secure a similar stadium naming rights deal at Tottenham as he did in Miami, he did secure two major sponsorships for Spurs: INEOS and Cinch. INEOS is the team’s bench 안전 토토사이트 naming sponsor and Cinch is the team’s jersey retail sponsor.
“Klein was one of the people involved in negotiating a deal with Formula One (F1) to build a karting track under Tottenham’s stadium, which will be announced this week,” the article continued.
“However, Klein’s style was not universally popular within the club, and his department was undergoing a major staff reshuffle due to departures, although there was always something else going on. Indeed, regardless of Chelsea’s decision to take him this time, there were predictions that he could leave the club at the end of the season,” the source added.
Tottenham announced the opening of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April 2019. The stadium cost £1 billion to build and the club has been trying to secure naming rights since then in order to turn a profit. There were talks with Nike ahead of the 2019-2020 season, which fell through, and talks with Google for 2022, which also fell through.