"sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium" - What do you make of the change?

"With the renaming it was always going to be whatever brand it was, at St James' Park. For the remainder of this season, we already have sportsdirect.com on the Gallowgate so we'd like to take that branding through the rest of the stadium."
Derek Llambias, Manging Director

Tampering with brand equity is risky business, particularly when the equity is built by generations of sports fanatics.

How do you think it's going to be received by the Newcastle United faithful? In changing the Official Name of Newcastle United's home ground, are they changing the very essence of the club itself?

Post your comments below and read more on the debate on BBC Sport's 606 debate

Filed under: advertising branding football marketing naming rights Newcastle united soccer sport sport marketing sports

Posted 4 months ago

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3 comments

Nov 04, 2009

Dev Patel said...

Well, naturally it's all gona just kick right off, aint it!!!

Nov 04, 2009

Palmer said...

Doesn't Ashley own Sports Direct? does that mean he has to pay himself? And what if he actually off loads the club, does he still have to pay the new owners, thus not actually being shut of the club any way?

bonkers.

Nov 04, 2009

Morant said...

As owner I guess its his privilege to be able to implement a sponsorship using his own assets. It hardly rolls off the tongue, though! They haven't specified how long its likely to stay like that, only that it's for the foreseable future.

This is a classic example of a one-way benefit where the club yields next to nothing (in fact, it devalues the brand) while the sponsor keeps all the benefits to themselves.

I bet Llambias told Ashley he'd be happy for it so long as he didn't pull out and take the club into admin before the end of the season!

SociableSport

"sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium" - What do you make of the change?

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