The new sign of Bergamo Stadium (ph. BG/Tsport).

As soon as we completed our report on the Bergamo stadium (link…), we had time to include an image of the sign with the new name—effective September 25th—of the facility, whose previous naming contract had expired.

This occasion provides an opportunity to examine the widespread diffusion of the naming rights system, which history says originated in North America in 1912 with the opening of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, named after a real estate company.

This system allows clubs to increase revenue, even if it means giving up names firmly in the fans’ memory.

As reported in the ReportCalcio 2025, recently published by the FIGC Research Center, 56 first-division stadiums in Europe had naming rights agreements out of 179 clubs, led by Germany, which holds 12 of 18 sponsored stadiums, with an average annual value of € 4.2 million per agreement (the BayArena in Leverkusen alone is worth € 30 million).

In Italy, in addition to the aforementioned Bergamo stadium, where Atalanta plays, there are five other sponsored stadiums in Serie A and two in Serie B. The figures speak of an average of € 3 million per year, but range from € 10 million awarded to Juventus’s Turin stadium (under the name of Allianz, which also sponsors eight stadiums worldwide) to €2 50,000 annually for Monza’s U-Power Stadium. It’s important to keep in mind that it’s easier to secure a good sponsorship deal for stadiums owned by the club, while in Italy, most are municipal and leased or licensed to teams, which offers fewer guarantees to the sponsor.

For some, the stadium’s name will always be the one they’re fond of (think about whether the San Paolo in Naples, now popularly renamed the Stadio Maradona, could ever take on a sponsor’s name); however, the trend is irreversible. The ban on officially using sponsored names for venues hosting international competitions is also about to be lifted: the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic organizing committee will sell the naming rights for temporary venues. Furthermore, companies that already have their names on Olympic venues such as SoFi Stadium and Crypto.com Arena will have the opportunity to retain the naming rights during the Games.