Wankhede Stadium likely to be renamed soon

The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is one of the iconic stadiums in India, which witnessed quite a few historic matches including the final of the World Cup 2011. The four-decade-old stadium is named after the former president of the Bombay Cricket Association SK Wankhede.

However, reports suggest that the name of the stadium might well be changed to introduce the name of a sponsor in it. This will happen if the deal between Mumbai Cricket Association and the advertising company DDB Mudra is finalised.

TOI quoted a MCA official saying, “Yes, we’re in talks to brand the stadium, which might have a sponsor’s name ‘prefixed’ or ‘suffixed’ to it. We expect a sharp fall in revenues allocated to state associations once the Lodha reforms are implemented since the pie has to be shared by the NorthEast states too. We’ve to do something to generate funds,” he said.

According to the reports, the MCA president Sharad Pawar formed an ad-hoc committee to explore the possibilities of the deal, where the ad-hoc committee comprises of all office bearers of the MCA, including CEO CS Naik, and Navin Shetty, who will be heading the marketing aspect.

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Executive Director DDB Mudra, Aneil Deepak, explained in a letter to Pawar the importance and the use of sponsor name with the traditional name.

Mr Deepak in his letter stated, ”Naming rights is one avenue where cricket associations can generate large revenues. It’s a financial transaction and form of advertising whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the rights to name a facility or an event, for a specific period. A presenting sponsor attaches the name of the corporation or brand at the start or end of a generic, usually traditional name,”

“There are a number of stadiums the world over that is named after brands. Stadiums have been named after brands in the US, Australia, Japan, China, Finland, Canada, Israel and Germany, where eight of the ten largest football stadiums have their naming rights sold to corporate sponsors. The practice is widening in the UK, for instance, the current stadium of Bolton Wanderers is known as the Macron Stadium, and that of the Arsenal Football Club stadium is the Emirates Stadium,” he added in the letter.

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Deepak also pointed out the name change of The Oval cricket stadium, which is now ‘Kia Oval’. “In cricket, the most famous example is The Oval, home of Surrey. It has had several sponsors over the years, and is currently known as the Kia Oval,” cited the DDB Mudra Group ED.