Lee Ryder has claimed that Newcastle United selling new naming rights for St James’ Park could help them land star players in the transfer market.
It has emerged over the last few days that Newcastle are exploring the possibility of bringing in a new sponsor that would see them sell off the naming rights to their famous stadium St James’ Park, although fans would be consulted on any decision.
While having their stadium named definitely would be hard to take for some Newcastle fans, the fact PIF are wanting to consult their fans is a big step forward compared to when Mike Ashley went ahead and changed the stadium’s name to the Sports Direct Arena.
Ryder has now claimed on his YouTube channel that selling the naming rights could see Newcastle handed a transfer boost and potentially land a top-quality striker in upcoming windows.
“Obviously the big talking point for a lot of fans is stadium naming rights. Newcastle got this wrong with the Sports Direct Arena almost 10 years ago but this time around it is very different, I don’t think the two situations are comparable.
“I don’t think this is like a sports tycoon like Mike Ashley trying to get his brand around the ground I think this is an opportunity to land a major lucrative deal for the club that could end up putting a star striker on the pitch and I think that is a million miles away from the Sports Direct Arena.”
Should NUFC sell naming rights to SJP?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on St James’ Park naming rights…
It has been reported that while PIF may be looking to bring in a new sponsor which would see them purchase the naming rights of the stadium, it wouldn’t necessarily remove St James’ Park, instead, it would likely just add on a sponsorship name either before or after it.
Therefore, fans and everyone in the footballing world could still call it St James’ park and be factually correct, not like when it was fully removed and the ground was changed to the Sports Direct Arena under Mike Ashley with no fan consultation.
This decision could be one that splits the fanbase, but if it does indeed inject cash into the club and bolster their transfer budget moving forward, then many would likely forgive and forget, especially if better players were brought in on the pitch.