Millennium Stadium naming rights

I think the Principality were the only game in town. If the WRU could have got more they would have. My understanding was that Barclays were interested once but got cold feet (possibly because they were also the holders of the WRU's significant debt) and Vodaphone also pulled out. If that 15m means that the redevelopment of the Westgate St approach to the stadium goes ahead then I'm all for it. Everyone will informally call it the Millenium Stadium anyway (which is an awful name and even worse when it's translated into Welsh).

The bigger story here is the ambition shown by the Principality. This is a big step up from their previous forays into sponsorship. I hope that augurs well for what is a home grown, responsibly run financial institution that supports hundreds of jobs in Cardiff.

If that 15m means that the redevelopment of the Westgate St approach to the stadium goes ahead then I'm all for it.

Interestingly, according to Private Eye's searchable map of foreign owned land in the UK - that piece of land on Westgate Street was bought by a Virgin Islands registered company in 2011. I wonder what the deal is.

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/issue-1400/registry

I'm not one to 'big things up', but I think we'd all agree that the stadium is close to being a national treasure. It must be the largest indoor arena in Europe (once the roof is closed) and it has certainly had enormous international exposure....so I was startled to hear that the rights went to a successful, yet rather small (by international standards) financial institution.

I would have liked to have thought that major global sponsors with much deeper pockets would have been queuing up with far more lucrative offers on the table...

Saying that, as Karl alluded earlier, good luck to the Principality on showing the ambition.

I think the Principality were the only game in town. If the WRU could have got more they would have.

These sorts of "they must have known what they were doing" assumptions are dangerous. Besides, this is The WRU we're talking about here. It's even possible for all we know, that any other multi-national sponsors weren't even considered as they did not have a Welsh connection, or Welsh sounding title.

I think the Principality were the only game in town. If the WRU could have got more they would have.

These sorts of "they must have known what they were doing" assumptions are dangerous. Besides, this is The WRU we're talking about here. It's even possible for all we know, that any other multi-national sponsors weren't even considered as they did not have a Welsh connection, or Welsh sounding title.

Absolutely spot on. There were a few interested, one not a million miles from the stadium & with alot more on offer. But you know how these £million plus deals go, both parties have got to like one another.

I think the Principality were the only game in town. If the WRU could have got more they would have.

These sorts of "they must have known what they were doing" assumptions are dangerous. Besides, this is The WRU we're talking about here. It's even possible for all we know, that any other multi-national sponsors weren't even considered as they did not have a Welsh connection, or Welsh sounding title.

I'm not making that assumption. The information that I have received was that other interested parties were not prepared to go ahead for whatever reason. The WRU were left with the Principality or nothing. They could have held out of course but the stadium has not been able to sell it's naming rights since it was built in 1999 so there doesn't appear to be any guarantee that they could induce a bidding war with multi national sponsors.

They could have held out of course but the stadium has not been able to sell it's naming rights since it was built in 1999

That's not quite right. The grant from the Millenium Commision prevented the WRU from ommiting the word 'Millenium' from the stadium name for a set period. I think it was fifteen years - hence the reason the rights were put on offer now. It could have become the BT Millenium Stadium or whatever before now but the commision had the right of veto over any deal.

The covenent wasn't for 15yrs. The Union cld of sold the name a long time ago but for one reason or another, actually one reason in reality it wasn't.

Maybe they preferred to keep it welsh. In my dealings with the millennium stadium / wru, they don't strike me as being the most commercially minded. I mean that in a good way - they don't seem to chase the revenue at all costs.

The covenent wasn't for 15yrs. The Union cld of sold the name a long time ago but for one reason or another, actually one reason in reality it wasn't.

How long it was for I'm not sure but this is from a 2004 WRU press release

"Naming rights - permission to seek a naming rights' sponsor for the Millennium Stadium has been granted by the Millennium Commission on condition that the word Millennium remains in the name"