source pls
i havent heard of liverpool wanting to sell naming rights.
that's what newcastle is doing currently.
maybe chelsea will follow.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6907973.ece
From The Sunday Times November 8, 2009
Liverpool plan £250m field of dreams
LIVERPOOL will brush off the controversy over England’s top clubs
selling naming rights to their stadiums and chase the most
expensive naming rights deal in the history of sport. Despite the
recession, the Merseyside club’s hierarchy are convinced they can
raise a mammoth £250m by persuading a leading global firm to buy
the rights to name Liverpool’s proposed ground.
Liverpool’s owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have been buoyed
by their record £20m-per-season shirt sponsorship agreement signed
recently with Standard Chartered, taking it as proof of the
world-wide appeal of the club and the Premier League. These factors
have persuaded Hicks and Gillett to revisit stadium-building plans,
shelved due to Liverpool’s debts. The two Americans now believe
they can underwrite more than 50% of the cost of building a new
ground on a site earmarked on Stanley Park through a world-record
naming rights sale.
The benchmark they have set Liverpool’s commercial team is the deal
signed between the New York Mets baseball franchise and Citigroup.
The American financial services giant paid $20m (£12m) a year over
20 years to have a new stadium, Citi Field, opened by the Mets
early in 2009. Liverpool believe they can outstrip that. “Naming
rights are a global market,” said Hicks. “We likely will partner
with someone wanting global branding, unlike the US stadiums, which
only worry about TV appeal in the States, similar to why Standard
Chartered chose to partner with us on our shirts.”
Despite debts approaching £300m and Liverpool’s onfield worries,
Hicks remains bullish about the outlook for his club. He said
Rafael Benitez would not be forced to sell star players even if
Liverpool fail to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions
League. Hicks and Gillett are seeking new investors, in the hope of
raising money to reduce the club’s debt by diluting their
shareholding, and spoke of “significant interest”. They are
undeterred by protests by Newcastle fans in response to their
club’s stadium being renamed [email protected] James’ Park
Stadium and criticism of Chelsea, who last week announced they were
looking to sell off naming rights to Stamford Bridge in the hope of
raising £150m.
Liverpool believe their situation is different, because they are
building a new stadium rather than renaming an existing one. They
regard as a precedent Arsenal, who signed a £100m 15-year deal with
Emirates, which also included shirt sponsorship, when they moved
from Highbury in 2006. Manchester United are the only Big Four club
for whom a naming rights sale does not appear an option. A club
source said a rights sale involving Old Trafford is “not on our
agenda”. Mr. Ferguson said Chelsea’s plans were driven by money.
“It is the only reason I can think of. But it does not really
concern me. I wouldn’t have thought [it would happen at
United].
