Newcastle United's St James' Park To Be Renamed Sports Direct Arena

Updated again: The Chronicle have quotes from the press release;

€œThe original naming rights proposal, launched in November 2009, invited sponsors to link their brand to St. James€™ Park, but this did not prove commercially attractive. As such, the club will now seek a sponsor who will be granted full naming rights. Until such time the stadium will be renamed the Sports Direct Arena." Managing director Derek Llambias said: €œOur aim for Newcastle United is to continue to deliver success for the fans and everyone associated with the club. We must make this club financially self-sufficient in order to deliver that success. To grow sustainably and allow us to invest in our future, we will need to rely increasingly heavily on commercial income. These are very difficult economic times and the board have a responsibility to maximise all revenue streams for the benefit of the club. Stadium rebranding offers a lucrative way for clubs to secure significant additional income. When we initially launched our plans at the end of 2009, we invited sponsors to attach their brand to that of St James€™ Park. However it has become clear that in order to make the proposition as commercially attractive as possible, a potential sponsor must be given the opportunity to fully rebrand the stadium. Naming the stadium the Sports Direct Arena helps us to showcase the opportunity to interested parties. We are now actively seeking a long-term sponsor wishing to acquire full naming rights for the stadium. Our shirt sponsorship deal with Northern Rock will also expire at the end of this season, which presents would-be sponsors with the opportunity to acquire both the naming rights and shirt sponsorship deals.€

Update: The Mirror are reporting that The Sports Direct Arena is part of a 'stadium and shirt package' that is being showcased to potential investors and was cooked up by Ashley after Northern Rock decided they wouldn't renew their kit sponsorship deal that expires at the end of the season. Which means Ashley is selling 120 years of history for less than half the price of a young kid who played as a first team regular for 18 months before being sold to Liverpool for £35 million. Yes £15 million and he's chucking in the shirt sponsorship too. The move explains the recent season ticket price drop and the heavy Sports Direct signage.. which is all part of 'here's what you could get for your money'. God knows which company will bite or what the hell our stadium will be called next season. Yeah we might end up in Europe and a new signing in January because of it but progress is going to come at a price. And all the while we are still wondering whatever did happen to that £35 million Carroll money... Reports in the North East of England tonight suggest that Newcastle United will announce tomorrow that their historic and iconic St. James' Park football stadium has been renamed The Sports Direct Arena. The Times journalist Tony Evans tweeted the news earlier today on his twitter only for the news to soon be removed. Speculation is that NUFC have told the press about the name change via a press release but the announcement has been embargoed until tomorrow. Add to that Radio 5Live said tonight that the €œGeodie Soap Opera€ would reignite €œsooner than we think€. Mike Ashley, owner of the budget sporting clothes store, has threatened the name change for the past two years (the club was re-branded "sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park" in 2009), citing the financial benefits of selling the name of the stadium to outside parties, a move that has become common practice in the Premier League. Though of course in the case of the likes of Arsenal (Emirates Stadium) and Manchester City (Etihad Stadium) this has always been in the wake of a new, bigger stadium being built. St. James' Park, at the heart of Newcastle city centre, has always been St. James' Park and no matter how many Sports Direct signatures that Ashley wants to litter the stadium with recently, it's going to be a tough, tough sell for fans. Personally speaking as a Newcastle United season ticket holder, it's a disgusting move from Ashley and suicide as a PR move at a time when fans were enjoying their teams recent good run. Finally things were going well for us again and we could enjoy what was being delivered on the pitch and we weren't being dragged down by manager or player departures or any other shenanigans. But a sense of normalicy never lasts very long up here does it? A name change is not one fans will forgive him for and the idea that the club need the finances won't wash when £35 million was brought in from Andy Carroll in January and was not re-invested in new players, is still sitting there in someone's bank account. More info as we get it but if tomorrow The Sports Direct Arena is indeed unveiled it'll be one of the darkest days in the clubs history. And Ashley, the coward that he is, won't face the media or the fans directly with the news and has timed this so we've had weeks to vent our anger as we don't play at home at ST. JAMES' PARK again until Chelsea visit on December 3rd.