Chelsea have moved to poach Todd Kline from London rivals Tottenham Hotspur after the American resigned from his post as Spurs’ chief commercial officer.
Kline has been placed on gardening leave by Spurs and will join Chelsea on completion of that in a senior business role, which could be president of business – the job vacated by Tom Glick.
Tottenham hired Kline three years ago with the brief of landing a lucrative naming rights package for the club’s £1 billion stadium, which he has left without delivering. He was listed on the club’s board.
It is expected that Kline will now play a big part in Chelsea’s stadium plans, with the club yet to announce whether they will rebuild Stamford Bridge or move to another site. Whichever option the club takes up, it is assumed they will seek stadium naming rights.
In 2016 Kline, who subsequently carried out the same role at the Washington Football Team, spearheaded an 18-year naming rights deal for the Dolphins stadium with entertainment venue Hard Rock worth a reported £180 million.
That figure represented the third largest in the sport at the time it was signed with the Dolphins around the 13th most valuable franchise in the NFL.
While Kline did not manage to land a similar stadium naming rights deal for Spurs, he was involved in two major sponsorships with Ineos and Cinch, who are the club’s shirt sleeve sponsor. He was also part of negotiations that saw the club land a deal with Formula One to build a karting track under Tottenham’s stadium, which is to open to the public this week.
Kline’s style was not universally popular within Tottenham, however, and there was a huge overhaul of staff in his department with those departing not always having other jobs to go into. Indeed, there had been speculation that he could leave the club at the end of the season, regardless of Chelsea’s move to poach him.
The arrival of Kline, following his gardening leave, will follow Chelsea’s appointment of Casper Stylsvig as chief revenue officer.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
