What does that mean?!... so naming it after a sports shop is attractive?!Newcastle United have renamed St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena after owner Mike Ashley's company.
The club say the change is a temporary measure to "showcase" the sponsorship opportunity to "interested parties".
However the St James' Park title has been dropped as the club does not think it is "commercially attractive".
Newcastle are now searching for a "long-term sponsor to acquire full naming rights", possibly for both the ground and playing kit.
Newcastle rename St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena
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superfrank
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15668207.stm
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
Yep. They said commercially attractive as opposed to just being attractive.
I guess if they had left St James Park in the name people would just continue to refer to it as that. By dropping it they will hope people just use the sponsors name, if you had paid a lot of money to get the naming rights and people used another name for it you would be fairly miffed and wouldn't be too keen on renewing the deal and they would find it hard to get other sponsors. Hence it wouldn't have been commercially attractive to leave it in.
I guess if they had left St James Park in the name people would just continue to refer to it as that. By dropping it they will hope people just use the sponsors name, if you had paid a lot of money to get the naming rights and people used another name for it you would be fairly miffed and wouldn't be too keen on renewing the deal and they would find it hard to get other sponsors. Hence it wouldn't have been commercially attractive to leave it in.
I'm going to get all nostalgic and moist eyed now
I think football is in danger of cannibalising itself. It is increasingly detaching itself from tradition and everything in the game has a price. Football grounds are sacred ground for most passionate supporters, and that includes the name of the stadium. It's not so bad for new stadiums like The Emirates or The Ricoh, they were the names on opening. Even for Man City, some people called it 'The City of Manchester Stadium' others referred to it as Eastlands. It hadn't embedded itself in our minds with a specific identity, but for St James' Park that certainly isn't the case
Football cannot rely on sponsorship and TV forever. The fans are more important than anybody in the game. Directors/Chairmen come and go, players are not as important as they and their agents think - you'll always find 11 people that will pull on the shirt and play, they won't be as good, but that doesn't matter, you'll always have a team. If you removed every TV camera from football grounds it would initially kill clubs, but that's only because they have sold their soul to them. Once they started to cut their cloth accordingly again, football would survive without the cameras. However, take every supporter out of every ground and the game is dead. Nobody would even watch at home because there would be no atmosphere.
If the game continues to ignore fans wishes and protests then the game is doomed. It may not realise it just yet, but believe me.......the game as we know it is doomed!
I think football is in danger of cannibalising itself. It is increasingly detaching itself from tradition and everything in the game has a price. Football grounds are sacred ground for most passionate supporters, and that includes the name of the stadium. It's not so bad for new stadiums like The Emirates or The Ricoh, they were the names on opening. Even for Man City, some people called it 'The City of Manchester Stadium' others referred to it as Eastlands. It hadn't embedded itself in our minds with a specific identity, but for St James' Park that certainly isn't the case
Football cannot rely on sponsorship and TV forever. The fans are more important than anybody in the game. Directors/Chairmen come and go, players are not as important as they and their agents think - you'll always find 11 people that will pull on the shirt and play, they won't be as good, but that doesn't matter, you'll always have a team. If you removed every TV camera from football grounds it would initially kill clubs, but that's only because they have sold their soul to them. Once they started to cut their cloth accordingly again, football would survive without the cameras. However, take every supporter out of every ground and the game is dead. Nobody would even watch at home because there would be no atmosphere.
If the game continues to ignore fans wishes and protests then the game is doomed. It may not realise it just yet, but believe me.......the game as we know it is doomed!
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superfrank
- Posts: 2762
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
+1
It was Sir John Hall at Newcastle who never tired of his "football is a business" mantra, but it's more than a business.
It's a shame more clubs don't follow the Barcelona model because it clearly works. I can't imagine them ever renaming the Nou Camp to something like the JD Sports Arena.
It was Sir John Hall at Newcastle who never tired of his "football is a business" mantra, but it's more than a business.
It's a shame more clubs don't follow the Barcelona model because it clearly works. I can't imagine them ever renaming the Nou Camp to something like the JD Sports Arena.
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Groovyelms
- Posts: 277
- Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 7:42 am
Oh Dear, my partner arrives tomorrow eve straight from newcastle, can't wait to hear how this goes down amongst the locals...
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superfrank
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- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:28 pm
St James graffiti at Newcastle United ground: man charged
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-17071779
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-17071779