St James Park: Naming rights sell more than just a name

Lucan, the sad thing for me is that the ABC can get away with calling it 'the' Melbourne Rectangular stadium..which means tat there is only one. There IS only one, of decent size, I'm pretty sure theres a minimalist football stadium up north of Melbourne, but I'm not sure ifits A-League standard. I'm not the biggest RL fan, but as a football fan, I've got to admit the facilities RL has developed have allowed the A-League some top notch stadia to play in even if the appropriate size is yet to be agreed upon. IMO, Hindmarsh is the perfect size for all but MV and GCU in the A-League.

The ABC are great for that. The non-corporate name for Bubbledome is "Melbourne Rectangular Stadium". Big miss from MOPT who should've gone with something a bit less clinical and picked a name with some character, "Riverside Stadium" would've been ideal.

Clubs can sell the names, and use these corporate names all they want. Just don't expect TV commentators, print journos, and fans to be complicit in this selling out. One sad thing for sponsors is that a number of punters will still use the old name, even when the old name is corporate one. I always have a giggle when I hear people in 2011 refer to docklands stadium as "Telstra Dome", or even "Colonial Stadium".

I'm with you Lucan. there isn't much I admire about the Loony Left Asylum that is the ABC, but their strict policy of using the original (non corporate) names for sporting venues is something I am 100% behind. It could become difficult when the ground has only ever had a corporate name from the very begining, but I guess that just means we the fans have bestow a name upon the venue..I think AAMI Park just sounds better as Swan StreetStadium (certainly has more street-cred IMO) and avoids the confusion between AAMI Stadium(Footy Park, SA) to boot. I'm constantly surprised by how many folks actually in the sports journalism area still get those two venues mixed up..very amateur hour when I hear it tbh.

But Lucna there is a thing called money, and por sport is about money and winning that is all that matters in pro sport money, profits and winning, nothing elese, not loyalty, not tradition, but winning and money Lucan. If Newcastle United are going to get into Euro champions league OR europa league, they need to raise money to achieve that goal. St james is nice but hay life moves on, and money is everything and winning is everything and loyalty means nothing in pro sport Lucan. Newcastle United do not have the money Man United have to simply just leave it as Old Trafford Lucan, they have to raise money form somewhere to buy better players Lucan, and attempt to make Euro champions league Lucan.

It would be great if all commentators, writers, fans ignored these bought names. In Melbourne I refuse to call Docklands, Bubbledome, or my beloved Lakeside any of their corporate names. It isn't my job to sell your brand. FIFA have the right idea of not using sponsor names when referencing venues for internationals (though, I expect this is more to protect their own sponsors than preserving the heritage of the game). Always brings a smille to hold in my hand a ticket to a WCQ printed with "Docklands Stadium", "Stadium Australia", "Lang Park", or the "Sydney Football Stadium".

I assume you mean "five left". Bellerive Oval was also on that list until they sold their soul to Blundstones a couple of months ago.

At least the name changes from Maine Road, The Victoria Ground and Burnden Park involved a real change in venue but St James Park is still the ground which the Milburn's, Robledo, Stokoe . MacDonald and Shearer graced. The change to further stoke the owner's ego is nothing short of sacrilege. Should Old Trafford, Hillsborough or Gigg Lane succumb to such commercial indulgence they would lose my support and affection nurtured for more than 60 years. Geordie fans vote with your feet.

the only reason Manchester City renamed their stadium to Etihad Stadium, was so they generated enough revenue to justify their elaborate spending on players under FIFA's incoming fair play rules. With the players at Newcastle's disposal, i do see them finishing in the top 8, if they can keep building on what they have then a champions league spot could possibly be within their reach sooner or later. And of course for this to happen, you need $$$$$$$$

I agree. What he said was spot on but I don't know if that's the best way for the MD to be speaking in public. Keegans quit twice after not getting his own way and Shearer keeps talking about getting into management but seems unwilling to try himself in the lower leagues. Pardew has made a couple of rare, subtle comments about the players having too much power when he first came to the club as well so comments about Hughton also seem accurate. Its similar to Ashley's problem that it's not what he does/says but how he does/says it.

By Tim Crow on this very topic: When Chelsea announced they were looking for a naming rights sponsor for Stamford Bridge earlier this week, I tweeted that I would advise brands to avoid naming rights sponsorships of an existing stadium like Stamford Bridge, because they don’t work with the media [who won’t use the sponsor’s name] or the fans [who don’t like a sponsor re-branding ‘their’ stadium]. This principle is the second of my Five Golden Rules Of Naming Rights For Brands, which visitors to this parish will recall I last dusted off back in July. http://www.synergy-sponsorship.com/blog/author/tim/

A nastier person that me would probably make a comment about it being somewhat appropriate to name Newcastle's ground after a one-legged girl. But I'm far too much of a gent to do that! ;) As for Steve Bruce's management, he doesn't give me any nightmares - I just don't sleep any more from all the worrying!

The Heather Mills Arena would give me almost as many nightmares as Sunderland fans must have about Steve Bruces management!

The thing about Llambias is that what he has said about Keegan and Shearer is spot on: Keegan always did have an odd temperament, witness that "I'd Looove it! Absolutely Looove it if we beat them!" meltdown on live TV towards the end of the 95-96 season, or his resignation by phone, allegedly whilst on the toilet, from the England job. As for Shearer, I think any neutral would have agreed that an untried former player, with no discernible managerial skills, and a habit of arguing with his managers whilst a player, was not the person to get United out of a relegation scrap.

Yeah I did think that I might have been pushing it a bit when I wrote that! But... Dave Stewart is a long-time fan, and apparently even had a trial at Roker Park in his youth when he was a promising player, before having his head turned by Annie Lennox and embarking on a career as a Eurythmic. I understand that he has a few bob to spare; And, Heather Mills is alleged to be one of us too, and she's got plenty of cash in the bank following her controversial, yet mammoth divorce payout from Paul McCartney.

wealthy Sunderland fans? ;)

As a Sunderland supporter I usually have a not-so quiet chuckle to myself whenever Ashley and his cronies stuff up in this manner, but this really is getting beyond a joke. Whenever they seem to be doing something right for the Mags, up they pop to undo all their previous good work. They have a team in a Champions League position, exceeding all expectations on the field, their playing group have settled well, there are no more disciplinary issues, the fans have warmed to Alan Pardew and his techniques, and now this. You're right to point out that this is a big deal in the UK, where naming rights for grounds is an anomaly rather than the norm, but you have mentioned Reebok, Emirates, Etihad etc. as being exceptions. In fact all these stadia are new developments and not existing grounds. Had Bolton, Arsenal, Man City and the others not relocated to larger, more modern grounds we would still be referring to them as playing at Burnden Park, Highbury, Maine Road, and name changes (I would like to think) would not have entered into the equation. As far as I'm aware this is the only instance of an English team attempting to re-name their existing, long-term ground. And for that reason it is as unthinkable as selling the naming rights to the MCG. Incidentally, if I were a Mag I'd be concerned that a group of wealthy Sunderland fans don't club together to buy the naming rights and give St. James' an embarrassing name, it wouldn't surprise me if Ashley wouldn't even notice it, or care about it if he did.

I knew our peaceful period couldn't last too long! I've begrudgingly accepted that this is a nescessary evil for the club. If, and that's a big if, we can get up to 10million for it then it can pay for another player which could be the difference between European football or not, or avoiding relegation. With the amount of clubs now controlled by rich foreign billionaires the rest need to do what they can to keep up, even though the financial fair play laws that are coming in soon will help close the gap somewhat. However, given reports that we are more likely to get 2-3milllion it doesn't seem worth the hassle that it is causing. The problem with Mike Ashley isn't so much what he does but the way that he does them. If he came out and said "we don't want to do this but we need to in order to increase our revenues to make us competitive" and spent time trying to win over fan support, I think he would ultimately be succesful. However by chucking his own company on their as a "demo" of how it can work without warning he has put fans offside, yet again.The chief MD, Derek Lambass has the same issue, except it's not what he says but how he says it. Have a look at what he said over the weekend for a good laugh! http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Newcastle-chief-Derek-Llambias-slams-Kevin-Keegan-and-Alan-Shearer-in-foul-rant-article829807.html On the A-League comparison, the difference is that most (not all but most) EPL clubs own their own stadium so any money they make off the naming rights goes to the club. No A-League club owns its own stadium so they have no say in what their stadium is called.

There is only 5 stadiums in australia that giving naming rightsto would cause an uproar. The MCG, SCG, Gabba, WACA and adelade oval.