Sports Hub may sell naming rights of new 55,000-capacity arena
by Ian De Cotta
04:47 AM Apr 07, 2011 SINGAPORE - For 27 years it stood at Kallang and was simply known as the National Stadium. In the final few years before demolition work started last September to make way for the S$1.33 billion Sports Hub, many began to refer to Singapore sport's biggest stage as the "Grand Old Lady".
When the new 55,000-capacity stadium begins operations in March 2014, it could follow in the footsteps of world famous sports arenas like Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena and generate sizeable revenue by selling its naming rights.
Speaking to MediaCorp yesterday, Sports Hub chief executive officer, Mr Philippe Collin Delavaud, said: "We can work ... to develop various branding programmes ... and this includes co-branding our activities ... selling the naming rights to the stadium is one of them.
"What is important for the Sports Hub is to have reliable and long-term business partners. Every solution is looked at and we will decide with the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and our different partners on what is the best solution in terms of long-term partnership with brands."
The Arsenal-Emirates Airlines deal is reportedly worth £100 million (S$205 million) over 16 years for the Premiership club, while German Bundesliga side Bayern's 30-year contract with financial giants Allianz has netted it €90 million.
The stadium in Sydney built for the 2000 Olympics is now named the ANZ Stadium - after the bank - in a deal reportedly worth A$31.5 million (S$41.2 million) over seven years.
Some of the nation's biggest and best-known brands like Singapore Airlines, DBS, Great Eastern and SingTel could be attracted to such a deal.
The stadium, with a retractable roof, will be the centrepiece of the 35-hectare Sports Hub, the world's biggest public-private-partnership project (PPP).
It will include a 6,000-capacity aquatics arena, a 3,000-seater multi-purpose indoor stadium, a watersports centre and 41,000 sq m of business, commercial and retail floor space.
Former Singapore midfielder and Football Association of Singapore council member Leong Kok Fann feels that as the Hub is no longer exclusively a public project, commercial strategies should be expected.
"With the private sector element in it, raising sponsorship revenue and merchandising is a normal consequence of such an enterprise," said Mr Leong, who starred for the Lions in the 1980s.
"The income will help stage the kind of activities the Hub is supposed to generate. If it also helps to lift the standard of our sportsmen and women, and brings in top sports events, then I am all for the stadium to take on a commercial brand name."
But football icon V Sundramoorthy says the upcoming stadium cannot be compared with the likes of the homes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich.
The 45-year-old former striker said: "Those like the Emirates and the Allianz belong to clubs, but ours is built for the country and its name must reflect this."
The Sports Hub has generated worldwide interest, already bagging nine international awards.
Last Friday, it was named the PPP Deal of the Year at the Infrastructure Journal Awards 2010.
Singapore Sports Council's chief financial officer Goh Fang Min said the awards reflect the sound economics of the PPP - the only one in the world to contain multiple sports facilities.
"The awards reflect how we crafted the PPP contract and the financing for the project. It is done in such a way that the key terms need not have to be renegotiated over the next 25 years. The next step is for the consortium to work with us to deliver the programming aspect of the Hub."
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