St James' Park renamed to Sports Direct Arena!!

It gets worse for Newcastle fans as fat Mike is changing the name of St James' Park to 'Sports Direct Arena'

What's your thoughts on this?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15672447

Slipping it in while things are going so well is a smart move I'd say. But either way people won't be happy with this, not that I think Ashley cares anymore, he just wants to squeeze his money out of the club.

A rose by any other name...

Plenty of other clubs' supporters have got used to a name change

St James' Park is tradition in Newcastle. The Geordies view Newcastle Utd as a religion. Changing the name to them, is like a kick in the teeth.

I'm not a fan of name changes or corporate sponsorship deals because it feels like it sanitizes tradition. I wouldn't be happy personally if I was going down the Tampax stadium or whoever stumps up the cash.

I was in Newcastle on the weekend and the stadium is very central to the city, more so than most I've seen. And literally everyone had a Newcastle shirt on as I walked through Eldon Square...thousands and thousands of people, from all over too, by the sound of things.

Y I Man wrote:St James' Park is tradition in Newcastle. The Geordies view Newcastle Utd as a religion. Changing the name to them, is like a kick in the teeth.

No more so than, say, Arsenal, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers or many many others

I cant comment on that Davie as I have never been to those grounds. I can only call it as I see things in Newcastle.

Can I just cornfirm something with those more up on football than me.....

Usually clubs sell the rights to the stadium name to get sponsorship money coming in. Which, I presume, to those struggling moneywise, is not a bad idea.

My question is that Ashley owns Sports Direct. So where does the extra sponsorship money (if at all) come into it? It seems he is just renaming it to advertise his own company

He is proposing to leave it as Sports Direct for now, but I believe they are searching for other brands to buy up the advertising.

I suppose the difference is that is the renaming of an existing stadium rather than a move to a new stadium.

The Newcastle fans will continue to refer to it at St James' park so does it really matter what the "official" name is?

The Emirates, Reebok stadium, Brittania etc were all new stadia with new names. The Etihad (or whatever it is called) was also newlands before that - it can never be Maine Road.

As I said originally, a rose by any other name... if the fans still call it St james' then that is how it will remain being known, no matter what "official" name it has. Hardly a "kick in the teeth" I'd have thought

Established Tradition v Change

Always something that sparks so much debate.

Football is a business nowadays and most football clubs do not have the luxury of playboy owners who use a club as a toy. Mike Ashley has always made it clear he wants to get his money out of the club, which as a businessman you cannot blame him for. Something like this was always on the Horizon. I am sure fans would want him to make his money and get out ASAP.

It is a small price to pay if Newcastle are to be financially sustainable. What if that type of decision was between being accepted to play in Europe or not based on the new financial requirements to compete?

What do people expect when Michel Pratini and his new 'Financial (un)Fair Play' rules insist clubs only spend what they earn? If Man United and Barcelona already have the biggest incomes how can others teams catch up and compete with them if they have to spend less?

Stadium sponsorship will become more and more common.

If and when Liverpool move ground, I fully expect that stadium to have an 'Emirates' type deal as would any new ground for Tottenham and Chelsea.

No doubt after the Olympics there will be a sponsorship deal for the Olympic Stadium to benefit both West Ham and UK Athletics.

It would be naive too for anyone to think Man United won't be playing at $Old Trafford should the team start declining after Sir Alex Ferguson leaves.

Their Northern Rock sponsorship deal runs out this year so they are looking for a partner to be the shirt and stadium sponsor in one hit much like Arsenal have.

To be honest judging by the cash it can generate I think its quite lucrative when you are getting millions to change a sign.

No big deal, it'll always be SJP to the fans, I'd change Celtic Park's name for a good price, it's never going to change in the eyes of the fans

Well, its better than the sportsdirect@stjamespark.com that was proposed a few years back.

It'll be Sports Direct Arena next year as well. Quite a few people have already said it's not a smart move to try and change a historic stadiums name, but would take the shirt sponsorship. It's smart for Ashley as he gets a lot more promotion of his company, but if it hepls us bring in an extra £5-10m a year then I don't think I'd mind as I'd always call it SJP.

Dyrewolf, that name change happened and, to my knowledge, it was called that up until the start of this season.

Traditions - Samsmishams

Who cares? It's a name I've got to be honest, you could get in another good player to bolster your team just by changing your name... Gotta be honest, not big deal. I would happily change Elland Road to the Naph Street if it meant £10 million!

xTwisTx wrote:Can I just cornfirm something with those more up on football than me.....

Usually clubs sell the rights to the stadium name to get sponsorship money coming in. Which, I presume, to those struggling moneywise, is not a bad idea.

My question is that Ashley owns Sports Direct. So where does the extra sponsorship money (if at all) come into it? It seems he is just renaming it to advertise his own company

I think he's showing other companies what a good idea it would be to pay for the sponsorship by showing he has done it with his own company. Basically he's advertising the advertising space.

Rumour is that Nike are very interested....

St James Park, with the nike swoosh around it wouldnt be bad...

Apparently there's no truth in that rumour.