Mainz-MEWA take ties to naming rights level

Article posted by Coliseum, April 1^st, 2021

Image: FSV Mainz 05

The stadium of Bundesliga club 1. FSV Mainz 05 (Germany) will have a new name from the coming season. Come July 2021, Mainz will play in the MEWA ARENA and their home facility will no longer be known as Opel Arena.

‘1. FSV Mainz 05’ stated that the market-leading textile management company MEWA with 45 locations in 14 European countries and headquarters in Wiesbaden (Germany) has struck a deal to take on naming rights to the home stadium of the German Bundesliga football club 1. FSV Mainz 05. With this naming rights deal, MEWA is further bolstering its longstanding ties with Mainz. Apart from the naming rights deal, MEWA will also benefit from an extensive package of advertising and hospitality services.

The deal will come into effect from July this year and will run until 2026. Mainz’s stadium will be officially rebranded as the MEWA ARENA as part of the agreement. MEWA will replace German automotive manufacturer Opel as Mainz’s stadium sponsor. The stadium has been known as the Opel Arena since 2016 but it was announced recently that the company would not be renewing its deal when it expires in the summer.

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MEWA’s deal will be worth around €2.3m (£2m/$2.7m) per season, a slight increase on Opel’s deal – €1.9m paid by Opel across its own five-year contract. MEWA’s naming-rights deal was brokered by the Infront agency, Mainz’s official marketing partner. The Bundesliga outfit brought Infront on board in 2015-16 in an initial 10-year agreement as Mainz swapped its in-house model for an agency agreement.

Mainz is a German sports club founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). Mainz has played in Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, for 10 consecutive years, starting with the 2009-10 season. The 33,305-capacity Opel Arena serves as the residence of the Bundesliga club.

‘1. FSV Mainz 05’ further stated that the new contract between the Bundesliga club and MEWA is initially valid until 2026 and is the result of a long, close and steadily growing partnership to date. MEWA has sponsored the club since 2013 and has previously held naming rights to the MEWA lounge hospitality space, as well as a stand at the facility.

The deal will run from the start of the 2021-22 seasons, after the expiry of the current contract with German automotive manufacturer Opel on June 30^th, 2021.

Mainz and MEWA’s ties have gone from strength to strength as both the entities share the same values – promoting sustainability and working to protect the interests of the youths. On these fronts, both the entities have worked in tandem. As the first climate-neutral Bundesliga club in Germany, Mainz 05 has been actively involved in environmental protection initiatives and makes a strong pitch for sustainability through its various projects and has also been working in this regard for more than a decade to make the world a safe place to live in for posterity.

MEWA has also set a benchmark as far as the sustainability quotient is concerned. Under the term ‘textile sharing’, the textile major supplies companies with textiles in the reusable mode with the key mantra being ‘using instead of owning’. The company relies on environmental-friendly processes such as heat recovery, wastewater treatment, raw material recycling and economically using fresh water. In addition, MEWA has been involved in youth sports for a long time.

Remarked Dr. Jan Lehmann, Commercial Director, 1. FSV Mainz 05, “With the naming rights for our stadium, our long-term partnership with MEWA, which is characterized by mutual satisfaction and mutual appreciation, reaches a new level. Especially in challenging times like these, it is a sign of great trust to expand an existing partnership. The basic values of the mission statement of Mainz 05 and MEWA also include ecological sustainability – this will also be represented externally by the lettering on the arena in the future.”

Asserted Michael Kümpfel, Member, Management Board for Marketing and Sales, MEWA, “We are very proud to have landed the naming rights of the home arena of such a top-flight club. We have felt closely connected to Mainz 05 for many years. Not only through the regional proximity and the previous cooperation, but also through the team spirit and the common values that we share – there are many parallels between sporting and entrepreneurial performance. And, of course, we also become more visible for our target groups. For the company and the MEWA brand, this is a unique opportunity that we are happy to seize.”

Affirmed Marco Sautner, Managing Director, Mainz Marketing Partner Infront, Germany, “This partnership is a great example of successful sponsorship. Common values, total trust and local proximity are the best prerequisites for taking on a huge commitment such as the naming rights of a stadium. We are very much looking forward to further bolster our ties with MEWA as well as stage many thrilling games in the MEWA ARENA.”

In 2019, MEWA achieved sales target of 734 million euros, making it the leader in the textile management segment. The company has received numerous awards for its commitment to sustainability and responsible behavior, as well as for its brand management.

The Opel Arena opened in 2011 and was known as the Coface Arena until 2016 through a deal with the credit insurance company.

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