Come January, Cape Town Stadium will be called DHL Stadium, with the Western Province rugby sponsor having acquired the naming rates.
Deputy mayor Ian Neilson confirmed that the City council, at its meeting on October 29, approved in principle that the Cape Town Stadium Board could enter into a four-year naming agreement with DHL.
He said details were currently being concluded and an announcement would be made in due course.
The deal is reported to be worth R111 million and comes ahead of the Western Province and the Stormers’ pending move to the venue.
This was approved by the council last year, stating that a Binding Heads of Agreement between the City, the Cape Town Stadium and Western Province Rugby (WPR) would make WPR the Primary Anchor Tenant of the Cape Town Stadium.
Mr Neilson said the stadium was on its way to becoming a more financially sustainable entity which would reduce the burden on future generations and ensure that there was yet another world-renowned public asset that all the people in Cape Town could be proud of.
He said they had been investigating ways to reduce the burden of carrying the operational costs of the stadium, which had led to a number of programmes aimed at enhancing the viability of the Cape Town Stadium through the commercialisation of the greater stadium precinct.
“It also involved looking at ways to enhance the economic sustainability of the Cape Town Stadium operation itself, such as the construction of hospitality suites and getting a primary anchor tenant.
“Studies found that rugby would be the most viable economic sporting option and that this would benefit both rugby and the Cape Town Stadium equally,” he said.
The move was welcomed by residents who felt it would improve the sustainability of the stadium while at the same time ensuring that fewer events would be necessary in the stadium precinct and surrounding fields.
