Premier League - Chelsea may sell naming rights

Eurosport - Thu, 05 Nov 17:12:00 2009

New Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay has said he would consider a plan to sell naming rights for Stamford Bridge.

2009-10 Premier League Chelsea Stamford Bridge - 0

Gourlay, Peter Kenyon's successor, revealed the club's intention to follow the recent and controversial example of Newcastle United who have renamed their ground sportsdirect.com@St James' Park.

Gourlay was keen to stress that, like at Newcastle, any possible deal would be made on the proviso that the name Stamford Bridge is retained.

"Retaining the heritage of the stadium is paramount to considering such a move but we think that is achievable and on that basis we would enter into discussions over naming rights with the right partner for Chelsea," Gourlay told the club's official website.

"We understand that this is a sensitive issue for our fans and that is why we would keep the name Stamford Bridge in any deal.

"What we are not prepared to happen, and I am sure our fans will appreciate this, is allow our rival clubs in England and Europe to gain a competitive advantage over us in terms of the revenue they can generate through either expanding the capacity of their existing stadia or moving to a new stadium and then invest that upside in their team or the club.

"Those possibilities are not open to Chelsea for the foreseeable future because of the restrictions in expanding our stadium and the issues around finding a new site, so that means we have to be creative and look at our sponsorship architecture and see if we can create new value and new opportunities that keeps us competitive.

"Our stadium does very well at the moment in competing with the bigger, and in some cases newer, stadia of our rivals. But they have more possibilities in the long run than we do. We cannot sell anymore tickets to Chelsea fans as we sell out virtually every match within our limited capacity.

"The match day experience at Stamford Bridge and the relationship with our fans has improved greatly through initiatives such as our flexible ticketing policy for all cup matches, the freezing of non-hospitality ticket prices for the last four seasons for Premier League matches and subsidised or free travel to a significant number of away games.

"But we need to keep evolving and move the business forward to support the football side and the club generally. This is a potentially realistic way of doing that."

Eurosport

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  1. kim.whittaker: I assume you work for a marketing­ company then and have no appreciation for football­ heritage?

    From Rock and Roll Machine, on Fri 6 Nov 11:54PM

  2. anfield=the Spanish inquisition stadium.

    From Frank, on Fri 6 Nov 7:45PM

  3. Kim Whittaker.... i would sell my name rights to get ­ enough money to call you my primadonna :)

    From S, on Fri 6 Nov 5:06PM

  4. Any opportunity where significant additional­ sponsorship revenue can be raised should be­ applauded.

    Like St James Park at Newcastle the name of­ Stamford Bridge is automatically recognised as being­ the home of Chelsea, however there are many ways of­ incorporating a clubs actual stadium name in any­ stadium naming right sponsorship (though none quite as­ daft as Newcastles). One just needs to find the right­ corporate sponsor which will compliment the name of the­ club.

    If Arsenal can receive £100 MILLION for just SIX­ years naming rights (including just two years main club­ sponsorship) then it's daft for other clubs to­ ignore similar opportunities.

    From kim.whittaker, on Fri 6 Nov 4:58PM

  5. how about being sponsored by KFC? let's call it The­ Bucket@Stamford Bridge????

    From Niccolo M, on Fri 6 Nov 4:13PM

  6. yeah Gourlay name it Burlington Socks@Stamford Bridge­ and hope you'll get safe passage out of the­ stadium...

    From Niccolo M, on Fri 6 Nov 4:10PM

  7. i'm still holding out for a prem team to play at­ the RIBENA ARENA

    From max.thornton, on Fri 6 Nov 12:57PM

  8. What happened to Peter Kenyon please???

    From kestephenson, on Fri 6 Nov 12:34PM

  9. 163 thats a better picture much more life like of you

    From lemontreesid, on Fri 6 Nov 9:30AM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Shiity Premiership club from London,owned by a­ russian­ mafia boss - Roman Abramovich - which aplauds­ every­ their goal like a f*ckin´ @#$%*ot and who shows­ as much­ emotion as a dead fish. Chelski has no­ history­ whatsoever. Plays every year with a different­ squad!!!­ The club manager´s are all CHEATING and­ arrogant nitwit­ who has no idea of footy and threatens­ UEFA referees.

    From Scouse-Baby, on Fri 6 Nov 8:14AM

  11. this garbage must be stopped. Stamford Bridge has­ history. Even Old Toilet has history. This must be­ stopped or football will eventually be ruined like­ American sports, with time outs every five minutes so­ they can runs ads, etc etc etc. THIS GARBAGE MUST BE­ STOPPED

    From tom h, on Fri 6 Nov 4:29AM

  12. agelessmatch @ stanfordbridge... hahaha.. kaly­ wisper's dream come true.... age old tradition in­ exchange for revenue... what the hell's wrong with­ the game today. on the other hand, its the game and­ chelsea we're after.. not the stupid thinking of­ getting more profit.

    From john t, on Fri 6 Nov 1:29AM

  13. modern day greed by both clubs and players alike , grab­ as much as you can as quick as you can, the true fans­ will always follow their teams whatever . don,t forget­ those money grabbing @#$% SKY that started this BALL­ rolling !

    From g.taylor02, on Fri 6 Nov 12:31AM

  14. I remember when SKY tried to buy man united AND EVERY­ FOOTBALL FAN WENT APE , whats changed stop it now , or­ have you all SOULED OUT

    From anthony h, on Thu 5 Nov 11:49PM

  15. they can rename stamford bridge to watever the ****­ they want but to true chelsea fans it will always be­ called stamford bridge

    From Matt, on Thu 5 Nov 11:37PM

  16. Good idea, advertise it as @#$%.Inc

    From peter s, on Thu 5 Nov 11:36PM

  17. When are you football fans gonna WAKE UP , you are­ all being taken FOR A RIDE , these money sell my mother­ for gold DO NOT GIVE A @#$% ABOUT THE FAN , DO NOT­ WORRY OTHER CLUBS WILL FOLLOW JUST WAIT

    From anthony h, on Thu 5 Nov 11:31PM

  18. they can call the stadiums what the hell they like but­ they will always be known by their right and proper­ original names by all true suporters of football not­ those so called comedians that call themselves such­ calling a stadium by another name for comesciial­ reasons means sweet FA to to the true hard core­ genuine football fan!!

    From Ronald, on Thu 5 Nov 11:18PM

  19. AND im out 2 people

    From anfieldroad94, on Thu 5 Nov 9:51PM

  20. What a blasphemy! Jesus Christ save us from this

    From S, on Thu 5 Nov 9:51PM
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