Britannia Stadium to be renamed bet365 Stadium

The Britannia Stadium will be renamed the bet365 Stadium from the start of next season.

Stoke City has signed a six year naming rights deal with Chairman Peter Coates company bet 365 for the stadium on Trentham Lakes.

The Potters former deal with Britannia has now ended and with the brand name of Britannia being dissolved, it was an obvious step to move away from the name that has been associated with the stadium since it was built in 1997.

Stoke City Chief Executive Tony Scholes told StokeCityFC.com: ‘The Premier League is constantly evolving and to ensure that Stoke City remain as competitive as possible it’s important we explore as many ways as possible of generating revenue.

‘As supporters are no doubt aware the Britannia brand no longer exists and it was important that we attracted a new stadium naming rights partner.

‘The Premier League is watched around the world and bet365 are a truly global company. We are delighted that we have been able to reach an agreement with them over the stadium naming rights for an initial six year period, along with the extension of their shirt sponsorship agreement.

‘bet365 are taking over from Britannia and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Britannia and the Co-operative Bank for their tremendous support over the past 19 years.”

John Coates, Joint Group Chief Executive of bet365 and Vice-Chairman of Stoke City told StokeCityFc.com: ‘bet365 have been pleased with the global brand exposure from our sports sponsorship agreement and we are always looking at ways to increase this. Entering into a stadium naming rights agreement with Stoke City seemed a natural fit, especially as the city of Stoke-on-Trent is home to bet365’s corporate headquarters.”

The final game at the ‘Britannia Stadium` will be Andy Wilkinson`s testimonial on the 15th May 2016, which will be a fitting end to two eras of Stoke City.