London’s O2 Arena signs deal with AEG to keep its name for at least another 10 years

The 02 first opened in June 2007 and has played host to some of the world’s most successful artists since then

Next year, the venue is due to open a 205,00 square-foot designer outlet (Reuters)

London’s O2 Arena will be keeping its name for at least another 10 years.

The mobile phone operator on Thursday announced that it had struck a deal with site owner AEG, reportedly worth around £125m, to retain the naming rights to the massive venue in East London for another decade.

The O2 first opened in June 2007 and has played host to some of the world’s most successful artists since then.

In a press release on Thursday, O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica, said that it had welcomed 60 million visitors to the venue, once known as the Millenium Dome, since it opened, most notably for the London Olympics in 2012. It’s hosted artists like Adele, Beyoncé, Iron Maiden, and Prince, who once played a 21-night consecutive run in the arena. On Wednesday night it hosted the Brit Awards.

Next year, the venue is due to open a 205,00 square-foot designer outlet.

According to the Guardian, a key component of the new deal is a doubling of the number of priority tickets that will be made available to customers of O2, giving them access to tickets 48 hours before they go on sale to the general public. The number of tickets to be made available each year has not been disclosed.