Tokyo National Stadium ‘expensive naming deal’

Article posted by Coliseum, October 10^th, 2025

Image: Coliseum GSVA

The Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG) is in the final stages of acquiring from next year the naming rights for the National Stadium in Tokyo (Japan), the main venue for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held in Summer 2021, a source familiar with the matter said on October 7^th.

‘english.kyodonews.net’ stated that expected to be worth around 2 billion yen ($13.3 million) per year the initial contract is likely to be a five-year deal for about 100 billion yen which would make the stadium naming rights among the most expensive in Japan.

The Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is one of the world’s leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history the MUFG has a global network with over 2,100 locations in more than 40 markets including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia and Oceania. The Group has over 120,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing.

The 67,750-capacity Japan National Stadium, known as the National Stadium, alternatively known as the ‘Olympic Stadium’, and formerly known as the ‘New National Stadium’, is a multipurpose stadium used mostly for association football in Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and officially branded as Tokyo 2020, were an international multisport event that were held from July 23^rd-August 8^th, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on July 21^st, 2021.

‘english.kyodonews.net’ further stated that the new stadium name will likely include the ‘MUFG’ abbreviation of the financial group’s name while also maintaining the elements of its original moniker, according to the source.

The National Stadium was privatized in April and is currently managed by the Japan National Stadium Entertainment Inc.; a new company founded by the telecom giant NTT Docomo Inc. and the Japan Professional Football League, among others.

Tokyo (Japan)-based the NTT DOCOMO Inc., Japan’s largest telecommunications company, provides innovative, convenient and secure mobile services that enable the customers to realize smarter lives. The company serves over 73 million customers in Japan via the advanced wireless networks including a nationwide Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and one of the world’s most progressive LTE-Advanced networks.

Tokyo (Japan)-based the Japan Professional Football League, also known as the J. League, is the Men’s association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan’s major professional football tournaments.

The company signed a contract worth 52.8 billion yen with the Japan Sport Council for the operating rights through the end of March 2056 and has promoted the stadium naming rights as a key source of revenue.

Tokyo (Japan)-based the Japan Sport Council (JSC) is Japan’s national sports agency responsible for promoting sport, supporting athlete development and managing sports facilities including the National Stadium and the Japan High Performance Sport Center. Established in 2003, the JSC utilizes a lottery-based funding system to support various sports-related activities contributing to a fair and vibrant society through sports. Its functions include providing a world-class training environment for the high-performance athletes, managing the sports-related infrastructure and promoting the sport integrity programs to combat issues like doping and match-fixing.

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