New stadium naming deal could net £99m

MAGPIES COULD PROPEL THEIR FINANCES TO A NEW LEVEL BY SELLING NAMING RIGHTS

- By ROSS GREGORY Head of Football [e-mail]

NEWCASTLE United's decision to build a new stadium could bring in almost £100m just through selling the naming rights, the club has been told.

A new purpose-built super stadium remains in the pipeline, although the club's Saudi owners PIF have yet to make a firm decision on whether to move to a new site or expand St James' Park. Leazes Park has been proposed as the preferred location should the club decide to leave their home of 120 years.

With the opportunity to redevelop St James' Park restricted potentially only the Gallowgate could be expanded within the current footprint a new home looks to be the favoured move. CEO David Hopkinson and the club board, led by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, remain in talks over next steps, knowing this is a once-in-a-lifetime decision.

What has become apparent, however, is that Newcastle must act one way or another to keep pace with Europe's elite. The latest Deloitte Money League rankings were released last week, showing Newcastle down in 17th spot despite massively increasing their commercial revenue over the last 12 months.

A new 70,000-seater stadium would help supercharge those revenue streams, both in terms of matchday income and the other opportunities attached to it, which include naming rights and using it for other sporting and entertainment events.

A new report issued by The Sponsor, an independent sponsorship research and valuation publication, says that Newcastle could attract around £5.5m per year if they sold the naming rights to St James' Park - or £55m over a typical 10-year deal.

However, that figure would be almost doubled with naming rights for a new stadium in Newcastle worth £9.9m per year and even more if Champions League football was regularly played there.