ARSENAL would have needed a budget equivalent to an Ashley Cole transfer fee to have bought a couple of hours of worldwide television advertising in up to 100 countries. But that is what will happen on Sunday afternoon, when Brazil and Argentina play at the new Emirates Stadium.
The two nations are taking each other on more than 5,000 miles from home in front of 60,000 mainly British spectators, but the logic of playing on alien turf is sound and the financial deal lucrative for all parties.
Brazil’s friendlies are being handled by Kentaro, a sports rights agency with headquarters in Geneva and Chelsea Harbour, West London, whose innovative approach is shifting the arrangement of international fixtures out of the hands of national administrators and on to the agenda of specialist businesses.
Kentaro handles everything, from finding the stadium to securing the opponents, arranging television deals and then making sure everybody is in the right place at the right time. In this case, there was little sense in holding a friendly in South America when most members of the Brazil and Argentina teams are playing in Europe. In addition, Brazil’s football federation has a financial buffer if anything goes wrong, one of the reasons it has hired Kentaro to look after the team.
Gate receipts for Sunday’s match, which is a sell-out, could be more than £2 million, giving Arsenal’s glittering new stadium a nice little earner as well as a worldwide showcase.
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The match is an exotic taster for Brazil’s game against Wales at White Hart Lane on Tuesday — a fixture said to be financially too good for Wales to turn down, even though John Toshack, the manager, is worried that he will be overstretching his players after their opening European Championship qualifying match against the Czech Republic tomorrow.