Tottenham have struck a landmark deal which will see them exploit a potential commercial goldmine worth up to £10million.
Spurs are among the best clubs in world football when it comes to extending their brand into overseas markets, and their latest arrangement continues the trend.
As reported by Sport Business, the Premier League have this week agreed a media rights deal with Japanese streaming service U-Next, who will now air the competition in the territory from next season.
That news comes a week after the top flight signed a similar agreement for their broadcast rights in South Korea, where their rights have historically been packed with Japan’s.
Those two arrangements, which are believed to represent an uplift on the value of deals in the previous rights cycles, are emblematic of east-Asia’s growing interest in football.
One ultra-lucrative way that Daniel Levy and his colleagues behind the scenes are capitalising on this is through pre-season tours.
In 2022-23, they toured the Asia-Pacific. Now, they have announced that they will be returning to Japan for the first time since 1991.
Tottenham’s pre-season tour in detail
Spurs will play J1 League champions Vissel Kobe in Tokyo’s Japan National Stadium on 27 July.
The North London side have also planned rendezvous with three Spurs supporters clubs in Japan Spurs, Osaka Spurs and Kobe Spurs.
As well as having a historic connection with the nation going back to their first visit in 1971, manager Ange Postecoglou spent three years there with his old side Yokohama F. Marinos.
There will likely be open-air training sessions, while the club have also signalled their intention to participate in local charitable initiatives and deliver a technical programme for local players and coaches.
How much will Spurs’ trip to Japan be worth financially?
Our analysis, based on industry benchmarks and context-specific multipliers, concludes that the tour could be worth up to £10million to Spurs all told.
As well as a sizable match fee and a slice of ticket sales, Spurs will squeeze more money out of the tour through merchandising and player appearances/events.
They will also shortly announce an official sponsor for the tour, which will be likely be worth a seven-figure sum.
Previous examples of official tour partners include Coupang, who used Spurs’ tour to Korea last season to advertise their streaming services.
More broadly, tours of this nature expand a clubs’ market reach, potentially supercharging their commercial income further down the line.
Pre-season tours provide value to existing sponsors too, giving Tottenham license to barter for higher prices when deals are next up for negotiation.