It's all in the name - stadium names

I recently blogged about six Premier League club owners, and how they differ in style. In part two, I mentioned Mike Ashley in some complimentary terms, although there was a note of caution with regards to the decision to rename St James' Park as the Sports Direct Arena.

Well, this week they took the steps to replace the St James' Park lettering outside the ground in preparation, and on Friday morning, a man was arrested (and charged) with vandalising the wall, replacing the lettering with a somewhat more crude version that Banksy would be proud of.

At least it wasn't in comic sans

But what about the other clubs who've taken a sponsor's name on their grounds?

Arsenal

The move to their new ground in 2006 was vital for the Gunners' financial progress, and airline Emirates paid an estimated £100m to have their name adorn the ground for fifteen years. Of course I could write a whole separate blog on the fact that Arsenal have indeed made an awful lot of money with not a lot of return...

The fact that several fans still refer to the ground as Ashburton Grove (the name of the site that used to exist there), or just Arsenal, gives an indication to their feelings. The 'matchday experience' (not my choice of words, a disgusting term) at Arsenal is full of Emirates branding, from the shirt sponsors to the pre-match flight giveaway.

Of course fifteen years from 2006 is 2021, so will the fans have to get used to a new name then? If majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is still around, the odds on the Wal-Mart Arena or perhaps a newer Dick's Sporting Goods Park (home of Kroenke's Colorado Rapids) must be worth a bet.

 Arsenal were criticised for counting these four on the attendance

Manchester City

Man City's newish home became the Etihad Stadium in 2011, previously the City of Manchester Stadium. City inherited the ground after the Commonwealth Games of 2002, where it was converted to a football stadium after the club left Maine Road.

But this naming rights issue is different - Etihad don't just have the name of the ground, but the whole area around it, with plans to develop the surrounding area to include the training area called the Etihad Campus. Weird.

The general consensus was that this was part of City's attempts to comply with UEFA's financial fair play conditions, and by chucking millions of pounds at the club in that way, it may well keep Roberto Mancini in scarves for a while yet. Or when he's sacked for buying money drains like Samir Nasri...

 Nasri was campaigning for someone to sponsor his seat on the bench

Coventry City

1987 FA Cup winners Coventry moved to their new ground the Ricoh Arena in 2005, leaving the old Highfield Road. It being standard to name new grounds these days, and Japanese photocopier kings Ricoh took the mantle. The fact that the club are certainly nowhere near the heights anticipated by the move doesn't help, and they're six points adrift of safety (at the time of writing) doesn't help, but they're no Darlington...

The other issue that perhaps Ricoh didn't anticipate is that the stadium is going to be hosting matches during the 2012 Olympics. Great for the city and the ground, but perhaps not for Ricoh, as sponsorship rules prohibit the use of corporate names, and so the ground will be known as the City of Coventry Stadium. It's not the only arena to suffer, the o2 will be referred as the North Greenwich Arena for the games.

Dion 'Magnificent' Dublin goes for gold

So after all that, and no matter how much moaning from the fans, stadium naming rights will carry on. Of course it'll take some brave decisions to rename Anfield or Old Trafford, but otherwise we'd still be having games at Highbury, Maine Road and Ayresome Park.