The "Whatever?"@Old Trafford

EZee

how would you feel about selling the naming rights to Old trafford for a good wedge of cash...

I believe people are talking about upto 150 million for stamford bridge... and given the "brand" of United perhaps we could get signifigantly more say 250 million...

now although that would create a spunk fest in the transfer forum my thoughts were if they took that and the 80 million from the ronaldo sale and paid off a huge chunk of the debt... (mainly the stuff thats at the high apr of arund 14%) then id be ok with them doing that...

im not saying its ideal but they have been trying to rebrand it as the theatre of dreams for years anyway so fuck it lets get some money for it and it will still be known as old trafford by everybody anyway...

but that could save us up to 44 milion a season in interest payments alone... which would either be able to pay off further debt each year or to be used as extra for players etc...

the club could be completly debt free in 10 years time probably if we threw all the money we would save in interst payments to it...

isnt the chance of a debt free club worth giving up naming rights for?

or do you hold the name of the stadium as being that precious as to rule out ever doing this ????

Rahul

Are you being serious ?

Tibs

I'd sell them for £800m to Microsoft for a 6 month contract.

cw1984

To be honest i morally object, however no matter what they slap all over it it will still always be Old Trafford.

It's a matter of time to be honest anyway.

Ole240599

Lots of sense in this suggestion. For those in opposition I would ask what is worse - being crippled with exhobitant interest rates on our debt (they will eventually limit what we can do in the transfer market) or replacing the name on the stadium with a corporate sponsor?

AlwynP

Only if a company called "Old Trafford" bought the rights.

Crerand Legend

If they can get 250m for it then it will be sooner rather than later and the Glazier's wont give a monkeys what we think. Sounds like alot of money though, personally I would have thought it would be alot less

MUFC07

Old Trafford @Old Trafford?

Anderson Searl

Although I highly disagree, most arenas and stadiums, despite being sponsored, never usually get called what the place is name in a corporate sense.

I say whatever, it'll be Old Trafford to me, and if people can't just chill the fuck out about it, it'sl ost dollars.

Plechazunga

I'm constantly amazed they haven't sold it off already

Given the precarious position the club's in, and that that it's pretty much inevitable at some point anyway, I agree with Ezee that it's the lesser of two evils

We'll never get £250m though

Raven_Blade

I wouldnt want it to happen but there is always a slight possibility. Of course there would be a lot of opposition to renaming the current stadium.

But imagine a hypothetical situation where we decided to build a brand new stadium. You can almost guarantee that they wouldnt call it 'Old Trafford', 'New Trafford' or something like that. It would get corporate sponsorship for sure.

Canuckred64

It seems to be the coming trend, and if they could get £15-20 million per year and then use that to service the debt, I could live with it.

Just as long as it's not somebody like McDonald's or a company that makes feminine hygiene products.

KingEric7

Good to see that no-one's jumped on the thread starter here, because it's certainly a topic worthy of discussion. Obviously, there's not a United fan on the planet that wants to see it happen in the sense that it would be another step towards "Americanising" football, but yes, there's all sorts of cash to be made there. Like Plech, I honestly can't believe it's not been done yet, but that's not to say I'd like to see it happen unless we were left with absolutely no choice whatsoever.

GDH

I agree with cw1984 here. It's a moral objection from me more than anything. From a buisness standpoint, I assume it makes perfect sense to sell off the naming rights to the stadium, but personally I just don't like it. It's cheap, tacky and, although I'm sure there are some who would disagree, it detracts from the prestige and history of the stadium. It's a sign of the times sadly, but I don't even like the fact that St. James Park have done it.

Unfortunatly though, I wouldn't be overly surprised if it happened at some point.

Anderson Searl

You don't see out current financial situation as just that?

I don't think we do have much a choice but to maximise potential financial gain in the short term to help aid the long-term position we're at here.

Devil_forever

This won't happen and Ralphie has explained it well before, apparently even Gill said that we won't be doing it as the money we make from the naming, we'd lose just as much from sponsors we already have around the ground.

The thought of being called "-----@old trafford" is quite annoying.

GE

"The Nike Arena"

wasn't there rumors about this when the Glazers took over?

F-Red

Im bemused as to why people who think new naming rights are all going to follow the format of the Newcastle blunder.

and for the record, i doubt Old Trafford would ever get naming rights stamped on it. Maybe at a new stadium, but certainly not at this one.

ralphie88

There's a thread on this already in the Football Forum. As I argue in there, we can't sell naming rights because the stadium already has a name. All we could sell is presentation rights, which Gill has said are valueless (talk of £150m for Stmford Bridge is pie in the sky).

This is what I posted on that thread detailing why I think the club have declared there is no value for them in it:

First, the media wouldn't universally call it by the new name. They would be under no obligation to and a lot of the old commentators etc would be extremely resistant to it (today, for example, Stelling referred to the 'New Meadow' and 'Bootham Cresent' rather than the sponsored name).

The age and the tradition of Old Trafford plus the fact that Old Trafford is its location would mean fans would be extremely resistant to calling it anything else. Furthermore, the fact that it already has a name means that when it is used for tournaments or events with a clashing brand sector sponsor, it would inevitably go back to being called Old Trafford which causes problems with this 'rebranding exercise'.

Essentially you'd end up as a sponsor paying for signage rights and the mentions of the official stadium name from club sources. Now there is clearly some value in that and some sponsors would be willing to pay for it, but these are the reasons off the top of my head why it's simply not worth it for either sponsor or club:

Lack of Value for the Sponsor:
1. Old Trafford already has a name and fans will continue to use this.
2. The name Old Trafford would keep reappearing when it hosts events or matches where there are brand sector sponsor clashes or where sponsorship is limited to event partners (e.g. the FIFA World Cup).
3. Portions of the media will continue to use the original name. You may actually have to also put money or favours aside to 'encourage' them to use the new one.
4. Sections of the fanbase (not just local ones) would resent the company who sponsored the stadium. Leads to very bad P.R..

Lack of Value for the Club:
1. Obviously the amount that will be paid by any sponsor will be limited by points 1-4 above.
2. Cost of physical rebranding of stadium, signage and merchandise.
3. Loss of income from existing stadium brands ('Old Trafford', 'Theatre of Dreams'), particularly in merchandising and hospitality.
4. Loss of income from existing sponsors with presentation rights. You'd have to get rid of the Audi dug-out/car parks, the Hublot Watches scoreboards and the Nike seating arrangement on the East Stand. You'd also have to set aside top location advertising space/time on the hoardings, which would affect deals with companies like VisitMalaysia.
5. Loss on income from other sponsors. Essentially you would be creating another Premium Sponsor which would reduce the value of the other sponsors (both Premium and lower).

Sylar

Nike Trafford people were saying.

MikeUpNorth

There is certainly some truth in that Ralphie, in that it's of little value to an advertiser if people still call it 'Old Trafford'. However, just because it has a name doesn't mean they couldn't sell 're-naming rights' so to speak. I wouldn't be quite so sure a new name wouldn't catch on either after seeing how the dome became universally known as the O2 without much hassle.

a_devil_inside

i'd be tempted if there was a company called noodlehair want to do it

think it will probably happen more and more sooner or later, whether we are one of them nobody knows

sammsky1

why is the 'old' in Old Trafford? Im sure when it was named, the stadium was anything but 'old'! Anyone know?

EZee

same reason the cricket grounds called that as well i suspect

Old Trafford, Greater Manchester - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
hth

theimperialinn

Apart from the Emirates, The Reebok, the Allianz arena and the JJB.

Arsenal's ground is called Ashburton Grove which has loads more character than the Emirates.

My boss was only saying to me yesterday about old trafford being named and I was horrified. I think this would be the last straw for a lot of the fans.

Corporate whoring has reached it's peak imo.

quethenoo

Its not as if people gave a shit about the dome though, in fact it was a cause of derision if anything far as i recall.

quethenoo

The emirates and allianz are new stadiums are they not? What about the other two?

theimperialinn

I would have thought the shirt deal would almost be the most saleable advertising space and it will never top what we get from AIG and whoever the new one is next season.

theimperialinn

I think new stadiums facilitate these naming deals but not renaming a legendary ground that is ripe with history.

It's bad taste imo.

theimperialinn

I agree 100%

theimperialinn

They were yes.

quethenoo

yeah agreed, kinda what i was implying when asking you about the emirates etc.

ciderman9000000

Here are my suggestions, i think any of them would be cool...

The Kinder-Egg Suprise Stadium
Ocean Finance Park
Lidl Lane
The Sugababes Stadium
Transforma-snacks Road
BNP Park
www.screwfix.com/home.php Lane
The Moaom Cottage
The London Palladium Stadium
Chelsea FC Trafford
Magic Radio 105.4FM Road
FIFA Fields
PaRappa The Rapper Park
Old Micheal Jackson's 'This Is It'
Sprite Hart Lane

VoetbalWizard

it'll never happend to OT.

however, when we get a new ground (in the next century or so), you can be sure it'll be sure naming rights will be sold right away.

Great Hat

I'd be against it personally. I'd have less objection if it was a new ground, but Old Trafford has so much history, that it'd be really crass and frustrating to see the name commercialised like we're seeing happen, for example, at SJP. I'm rather surprised the Glazers haven't yet tried this avenue, or at least haven't publicly announced plans to do so, because of the debt, but perhaps they fear that, like Imps said, it may be the last straw for fans who've been against recent corporate measures.

I'd be against it personally, but I wouldn't feel quite the same indignity as some have suggested, if it were to be renamed. I certainly wouldn't be happy though, regardless of revenue.

Anderson Searl

1 1/2 stars

Flying Fox

How about the RedCafe "Kick Her In The Cunt and Shit in Her Handbag" stadium?

Anderson Searl

Diver Shoots His Load Place

sammsky1

Maybe not, but it would command a record breaking fee, whatever the number. The sheer Page Ranking value of such a coup would be perfect for a brand with relatively unknown global recognition to announce itself onto the global stage.

The fee piad by AIG was a snip compared to what it would have cost them to get such global brand awareness through the more traditional marketing routes. One can argue that AIG has done a very bad job at maximising the opportunity that association with Manchester United provided them and that they should have used that to establish themselves the the global leader in Insurance (global recession aside).

I can think of many huge Indian and Chinese firms who remain relatively unknown outside their home markets whom this kind of project would be appeal to, not least because it was more cost effective than the traditional global marketing plan they would otherwise have to invest in.

Flying Fox

The :jol: Arena?