lagos wrote:
it will always be st james' park, it's hard to change a name that's been around for a while especially as "the Sports Direct Arena" doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the same way
mike ashley's pulling a Barcelona.
Sports Direct is Mike Ashley's company. I doubt that he is making his own company pay over the odds for naming rights. What he could be doing is getting the Toon Army used to the idea of a naming rights. If they protest and threaten to burn down the place, then he simply renames it St James Park without too much hassle. If they get used to calling the place something other than St James Park, then it opens up the opportunity to find a real sponsor in 2 or 3 years time and call it Pepsi Park or Pukka Pies Park.
Barcelona did something similar with UNICEF. They made some noise about being more than a club and wore UNICEF on their shirts, just so fans could get used to the idea of a 3rd party's name on their shirt. Now they're making big bucks with Qatar Foundation, and nobody's complaining.
