STADIUM IS JUST SIMPLY A STADIUM!

11 July 2005

What's in a name? Not a lot, is the answer if you're intending to make your way to the new £27 million Swans and Ospreys stadium at Morfa. For signs have gone up announcing the imminent arrival of Swansea's prestigious new sporting home, bearing the name - Stadium.

Developers of the soccer and rugby stadium put a reported £250,000 price tag on the ground's naming rights earlier this year.

Since then there has been little or no news over what it will be called.

The consortium behind the stadium invited tenders from companies and hoped to have a main sponsor in place by June 30.

Bosses had said there were a number of well-known companies in talks earlier this year.

But the waiting goes on for eager sports fans wanting to know what their knew "spiritual home" will be christened.

Brewer Scottish Courage, the makers of John Smith's bitter, was one of the companies in the running to sponsor the stadium.

But it is not just about a name.

For the deal on naming rights is understood to include a range of different sponsorship opportunities ranging from £5,000 upwards.

The entire package is worth £500,000 a year.

Today StadCo, which is running the stadium, said: "We are negotiating with interested parties at the moment."

The ground at Morfa originally had the working name of White Rock, although that was dropped last year. The stadium will play host to music concerts and other events.

The first football ground in the UK to be named after its sponsor was Scarborough's stadium, named after frozen chip company McCain.

Bolton Wanderers has the Reebok Stadium while conference side York City renamed its ground Kit-Kat in a £100,000 sponsorship deal with the chocolate bar manufacturer.