Archive for tag: Newcastle United sponsorship.

Who on earth would buy the naming rights for St James’s Park?

October 29th, 2009 | 82 Comments |

Anusol Arena? Pizza Hut Park?
Anusol Arena? Pizza Hut Park?
Of course, Mike Ashley’s recent announcement that Newcastle United will be seeking bidders for ‘naming right’s’ to the stadium formerly known as St James’s Park is somewhat ‘controversial’ to say the least. Indeed, many very strong views have been expressed already, including in this ‘blog. Petitions have been prepared, there have been rumblings of more demos and the mood is even more fractious than usual.

There is also another question that comes to mind, to the mind of this writer anyway; who on earth would want to step into what could be one of the most controversial deals in the history of corporate sponsorship? Until now, the naming rights for the stadiums of larger clubs have been restricted to new builds such as the ‘Reebok’ in Bolton, the ‘Emirates’ in North London, the ‘JJB’ / ‘DW’ in Wigan and several others. So far, so uncontroversial. However, large established names with large historic grounds such as Manchester United with Old Trafford, Liverpool with Anfield etc have so far resisted the temptation to sell naming rights despite their owners being under great financial pressure with debt and the spiralling inflation prevalent at the top of the football world. Of course, a biggest part of this is that their names have attained an iconic status within football over a very long period like, dare I say it, the big elephant on the hill that is St James’s Park itself. Certainly, it would be seen as sacriligeous and far too controversial in many quarters, and would probably be more trouble than it is worth. (more…)