Manchester United want to sell the naming rights to their planned new 100,000-capacity stadium. It is part of what the club calls a "sanity, not vanity" approach to a project that could cost £2bn or more and comes at a time when the club is already more than £1.3bn in debt.
The club unveiled a masterplan for the wider Old Trafford area in July 2026, showing the new ground will be built 350 metres north-west of the current stadium on land it has already acquired. The 370-acre development is expected to create 48,000 jobs and 15,000 new homes. But the design of the stadium itself is not yet final – the "circus tent" look unveiled by minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in 2025 was not in the latest plans, and the club says it will consult fans before sharing a final design by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
“Manchester United's £2bn stadium plan and why they may sell naming rights”
How to pay for it is the big question. Manchester United are deep in debt, partly from the Glazer family's leveraged takeover in 2005. The club's chief executive Omar Berrada said the working cost of the stadium is £2bn, but Collette Roche, the executive leading the project, admitted there is no fixed price for a venue that will be bigger than any existing stadium. She said all funding options are on the table: debt, equity, shares, or outside investors. But one likely source is a naming rights deal – similar to the ones Arsenal has with Emirates and Manchester City has with Etihad. Roche confirmed the club will "potentially sell the naming rights to the stadium" as a way to keep ticket prices affordable while generating the revenue needed to build.
Why does this matter for UK readers? Football stadium naming rights are already common in the Premier League, but a deal for a club of United's stature would be one of the biggest ever. It reflects a wider trend of clubs using commercial income to fund infrastructure projects, often loading on more debt in the process. For fans, the concern is whether the cost of the stadium – and the interest payments on debt – will eat into money available for transfers and wages. United are currently spending heavily on midfielders: they have agreed a £50m deal for Chelsea's Andrey Santos, a £35m deal for Atalanta's Ederson, and are considering a £50m move for Roma's Manu Kone. That spending, combined with the stadium debt, has left some supporters worried about the club's financial direction.
Q: What is a stadium naming rights deal? A company pays a club for the right to put its name on the stadium, usually for a set number of years. The club gets a large upfront or annual payment, and the company gets global brand exposure.
Q: How much are naming rights deals worth? The sources do not name a figure for United, but comparable deals include Arsenal's with Emirates (reportedly around £100m over 15 years) and Manchester City's with Etihad (around £400m over 10 years). The value depends on the club's global fanbase and stadium capacity.
Q: Will the new stadium still be called Old Trafford? No. The club says it is looking at selling naming rights, so the new stadium will almost certainly have a different name. The current Old Trafford could be redeveloped or used for other purposes, but no decision has been announced.
What happens next? United will continue consulting fans on the stadium design over the next few months. The club hopes to share concrete plans by the end of 2026 or early 2027. Meanwhile, the transfer market moves show United are trying to rebuild their squad while also preparing for a huge infrastructure project – a balancing act that will test the "sanity" approach Roche has promised.