Emirates Acquires Old Trafford Naming Rights
Old Trafford, Lancashire’s cricket ground set to host the third Investec Ashes Test in August, has been renamed Emirates Old Trafford as part of a 10-year sponsorship deal with the brand that will see the stadium undergo an extensive re-development.
Due to be completed before it hosts the Investec Ashes match, it will be the first Test the venue has staged since 2010. As part of the deal, the brand will also feature on Lancashire’s Twenty20 kit.
Geoff Durbin, commercial director Lancashire said of the deal: ‘We always said that if we were going to do something like this, we would respect the heritage and the importance of having Old Trafford in any naming. Equally, we’ve got to look forward and I can assure you that there will be far more congratulatory and envious eyes out there, particularly amongst other cricket clubs, than critical ones.’
Durbin added: ‘It’s something that a lot of other rights-holders are out trying to do and have failed. We’ve succeeded and are very proud and pleased that we’ve done so. We’ve got the future of the club sorted out, we’ve got the facilities of the new stadium, and this is an important additional financial injection. It ultimately means we can do what we want to do with cricket. We want the most successful team out there and this will certainly help in that direction.’
Vice-president of Emirates UK, Laurie Berryman, said: ‘We’ve been flying from Manchester Airport for around 20 years. We’ve been looking for some time for an asset in the Manchester area to put our brand out there. Lancashire County Cricket Club is an iconic brand. Emirates sponsored the World Cup in 1999 [in England] and have been involved in cricket ever since then. The sport is covered very well in the UK, but also in the sub-continent, Australia, New Zealand and a number of other areas that we fly to.’
