When it was announced this week that Tayto Park would soon go by a different name, many took to social media to express their dismay.
The earliest example is in the 1910s, when Red Sox owner John I Taylor named his team’s stadium Fenway Park. Fenway was a relatively new neighbourhood in Boston – but it also happened to be the name of Taylor’s real estate business. In the following years a number of relatively small deals were struck – such as the addition of 'Kingspan’ to Cavan GAA’s Breffni Park, or the renaming of Longford Town FC’s Strokestown Road venue to ‘Flancare Park’."The O2 was the Big Bang for me – that was the one that really kicked it all off," said John Trainor, founder and CEO of sponsorship consultancy firm Onside.
"The big sea-change in Ireland was the rebuild of The Point and the rebuild of Lansdowne Road," said Mick O’Keeffe, CEO Teneo Ireland, which has advised brands and organisations on these kinds of sponsorship deals."That caused this ripple effect of others looking at naming rights as a way to generate income.
Sponsorship deals also tend to give brands access to the venue at different points during the year, access to hospitality facilities as well as premium tickets to major events. Or they may activate their deals by rewarding customers – a technique that helps them to attract and retain their business. "If you go in as a naming rights sponsor of a big rugby ground, you’re also associating yourself with 100 years of heritage," said Mick."There is a way of valuing that – but there’s no hard scientific equation for it."
Similarly in Sweden, Swedbank has donated its naming rights for an arena in Stockholm to an anti-bullying charity it sponsors, leading to the creation of the Friends Arena. "You want to find someone who’s going to help you grow your sport, and bring more people into your stadium," said Mick O’Keeffe."The perfect partner is someone who has a very substantial customer base, they may be rewarding people with tickets, they may be sending out information in their customer literature, they’re trying to grow the fanbase within that region."
Venues and owners can also benefit from any goodwill that exists around a named brand – or the work it might do in the community.Perhaps the most extreme example of the risks that come with getting a naming sponsor wrong is the Houston Astros which, in 1999, signed a $100m, 30-year deal to name its new stadium Enron Field.
"When it’s a rebuild or a new build it’s a bit easier," said Mick O’Keeffe."Where it becomes a little bit more nuanced is where an existing venue, that hasn’t been redeveloped, but someone looks at an opportunity to generate a bit of extra revenue.""When we’re advising a rights holder or seller, we’re telling them it needs to be a minimum of five to seven years of a term," he said.
petulamartyn AdamMaguire They should it roller coaster sickness or one bag of crisps on the way out
AdamMaguire FYI, Musgrave Park is no longer known as Irish Independent Park