SV Werder Bremen’s home stadium will continue to be called the Weserstadion for the next five years, which comes after the club have agreed a long-term partnership with four existing sponsors. Main sponsors Matthäi, top partner Harald PIHL GmbH and the special partners Wiesenhof and Goldschmaus will now be so-called ‘floodlight partners’, ensuring the stadium will keep its current name until 2030.
With the expansion of their involvement, the floodlight partners are setting a strong precedent of reliability and sustainability. The four companies are expanding upon their existing involvement with SV Werder and will work as stadium partners as well as so-called floodlight partners for the next five years. Each company will symbolically represent one of the four famous floodlights of the stadium.
The floodlight partner’s presence will be greater in the stadium going forwards: from the roof to the benches, from the lights to the terraces and stairwells. As well as this, the partners will be featured even more prominently in the backgrounds of interviews and press conferences. However, they have chosen not to rename the stadium, therefore securing the historic name Weserstadion.
“The floodlight partnership shows us even more how strong and dependable the partners that support us are and how closely connected they are to both the city of Bremen and the club”, said SV Werder CEO Klaus Filbry. “The decision of the partners to support the club above and beyond the involvement they already had shows their great faith in the club, the Bremer Wesen-Stadion GmbH and the region of Bremen. The four partners upholding their decision to preserve the name of the Weserstadion means that we have been able to provide an optimal solution for our fans. This decision is a strong reminder of their emotional connection to the club and the stadium.”
The Weserstadion has been without a naming sponsor since the end of the partnership with wohninvest at the end of June 2024. Now roughly a year on, those responsible for the naming have found a solution which guarantees that the Weserstadion will keep its name until at least 2030.
“In the last 12 months we’ve held lots of intense discussions and examined a range of solutions. Here we looked at the emotional nature of the topic as well as the financial difficulties that came with the ending of our partnership with wohninvest”, Filbry commented. “Both a full or partial sale of the name were ideas that were on the table. As a result of the decision taken by our four long-term sponsors, we are able to take our desired course of action: to achieve our financial goals, without having to change the name Weserstadion.”
After entering into a regional alliance, constructing a new youth campus and the successful issuance of the second bond, the management of Werder Bremen have implemented another strategic decision with the floodlight partnership, which will have positive effects for the club and the Bremer Weser-Stadion GmbH (BWS) for years to come.
Hans-Jörg Otto, managing director at Bremer Weser-Stadion GmbH, is excited about the agreement of the new floodlight partnership: “This new long-term partnership offers us financial stability and planning security for the coming years, and also contributes to our investments in the near future.”
“For the state of Bremen, reaching an agreement on a new naming sponsor represents a critical contribution to the economic stabilisation of the stadium,” says Kristina Vogt, senator for economics, harbours and transformation of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. “The Weserstadion is a place with huge emotional significance for the people of Bremen, defining identities in the city and beyond. However, it also carries a financial responsibility. After a year without any revenue from a naming rights sponsor, it is a good and important sign that such income is flowing again, improving the financial situation of the Bremer Weser-Stadion GmbH. It also reduces the likelihood that shareholders, including the state of Bremen and consequently the taxpayer, will have to bear additional financial burdens in the future. What’s even more lovely, is that the sponsors have secured the naming rights, but have chosen not to exercise them and the stadium will remain known as the Weserstadion. This demonstrates their real understanding and respect for tradition as well as the special meaning, which the stadium has for so many people.”
