An American Disease (General (stadiums))

Member Name: cpf1993

Product:	General (stadiums)
Date:	24/04/01 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brings clubs much needed finance.

Disadvantages: Leads to horrible names and the elimination of tradition in football.

The BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium. The Britannia Stadium. The Reebok Stadium. What do these stadiums have in common? Yes, the selling of the name of the name of the stadium so that the club which owns it (in these cases Middlesborough, Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers) can reap a little bit of extra money in.

Deloitte and Touche say this trend will grow, and when you look at the facts it is not surprising. Middlesborough will get a reported £3.5M over ten years from their deal with BT Cellnet, so can imagine what other clubs are being offered in return for corporate names being displayed in prominent places. Before you ask the next new stadium to be named in return for big money is Southampton's replacement for The Dell, which is expected to open next season as the Friend's Provident St Mary's Stadium. Hardly traditional, is it?

So where exactly did this phenomenon start? Well, perhaps unsurprisingly given the rewards involved, it has really taken off in America. Teams in all manner of sports were sprouting new stadiums left, right and centre throughout the 1990s, and when tax dollars and contributions from billionaires were not enough to complete the building work corporate America stepped in.

The result? New and sparkling stadia, wonderful facilities, spoilt by names like Safeco Field (Seattle), The Pepsi Centre (Denver) and the TWA Dome (St. Louis). However that was not enough, as even small renovations and opportunities to obtain money saw existing stadiums renamed, with often-ugly results. Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium became Cinergy Field, San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium became Qualcomm Stadium and (worst of all in my opinion) Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami became Pro Player Stadium, corporate sponsorship replacing the name of the late owner who had the vision to privately finance a new 73,000 seat stadium.

With money coming in nothing is sacred anymore. Will stadiums have traditional names like "The Ha
wthorns" anymore? It is not likely without a corporate name featuring. Can stadiums be named after heroes of a club? Not unless a footnote recognising a major company can be added onto it. Even stands are unlikely to be named after heroes. The Matthew Harding Stand at Chelsea might be the last of its sort, with future heroes having their names attached to corporate lounges and other moneyspinners, even down to demeaning plastic plaques over burger bars.

So is there any way to stop this trend continuing? Only if lots of multimillionaires of the like of Sir Jack Walker step forward and willingly throw their millions at their club. Even then such actions cannot surely last forever, as either success fails to come, the money dries up or is spent elsewhere (these people have lives and families - for us to expect them to only spend money on a football club is just not realistic). Eventually successful companies will be there to step in, to push tradition aside and to push their corporate image forward in its place.

It is a great shame, but unfortunately it is also the future of the beautiful - and now corporate - game.

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