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Thread: What price our sporting soul

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    What price our sporting soul

    What price our sporting soul

    Edwina Byrne March 10, 2009

    http://www.eurekastreet.com.au:80/ar...spx?aeid=11893





    Last year when Viewed crossed the finish line of the Melbourne Cup and I tore up my TAB tickets, I became suddenly furious.

    I was not angry at my personal financial loss, insubstantial and predicted as it was, but at the pictures on my television screen of the various VIPs and officials gathering around the victorious trainer and jockey. These VIPs, who would once have stood gloved and top-hatted, now wore red Emirates baseball caps to present the 'Emirates Melbourne Cup'.

    I was outraged. This wasn't Emirates' Melbourne Cup. It was Melbourne's Melbourne cup.
    Corporations seem to think they own a lot of our stuff, as it happens. The most recent incarnation of this belief is the trend for buying naming rights to Australia's public works — indeed it seems all our sporting arenas undergo quasi-annual name changes.

    These buildings, and the events that take place within them, constitute our urban and cultural landscapes, and should be sources of community pride, especially in a country in which sport is so central to identity.

    These stadiums should be, in the marketing jargon, our 'third places'; we should feel as much at home using these facilities as we do in a town square.

    Federation Square in Melbourne, by the by, is sponsored by BMW and Optus, but its name and its identity as a public space remain; its angular facades unencumbered by corporate badging. Federation Square is just one example of how we can sell our events and amenities to sponsors without selling our souls.

    Superficial as it may seem, the first step to reclaiming our public facilities should be reclaiming their names. Why should Western Australians, for example, abide names such 'Medibank Stadium' and 'Members Equity Stadium' when they could dedicate these public works to some unsung local hero?

    Even when Members Equity's contract expires, 'Perth Oval' will never return — not least because it is now rectangular — so why not immortalise a name such as William 'Nipper' Truscott of the Mines Rovers, East Fremantle, and State football teams? Nipper secured Western Australia's first carnival win against Victoria in 1921 with a saving mark as the siren sounded.

    Likewise Sydney music fans might attend concerts at Johnny O'Keefe or Bee Gees Park instead of ACER Arena, and Suncorp Stadium might be returned to its former glory as 'Lang Park'. Prior to its redevelopment as Suncorp in 2003, the park was named for the feisty Presbyterian clergyman, writer and republican John Dunmore Lang, and was nicknamed 'The Cauldron' for Queenslanders' tendency for, shall we say, 'spirited' barracking.

    Alternatively, the park at North Brisbane could choose its moniker from the names of those pioneers who are buried beneath its turf — the site was Brisbane's primary cemetery until 1875.

    Perhaps, instead of Hisense Arena, Victorians could submit the name 'Maddock', in honour of the stadium's new, internationally accredited cycling track. Sarah Maddock, the vision-impaired daughter of a NSW dairy farmer, was the first woman in the world to attempt a long-distance bicycle ride.

    She rode her 30lb Conqueror safety machine from Sydney to Melbourne in 1894; she cycled through bushfires, tropical downpours and creeks to Brisbane and back in 1895. What's more, she completed these rides in a long skirt, black satin knickerbockers and stays, resisting the contemporary movement towards 'rational dress'.

    These suggestions are not merely the ravings of an overzealous history graduate. Reclaiming the public's naming rights makes economic sense too. The short term gains accrued by selling off these rights are far outweighed by the long term loss of the public 'brand'.

    Consider, for example, the value of Wimbledon as a brand. Even when we disregard the cultural importance of the tournament, in calculating Wimbledon's value we must consider the tourist dollars it attracts, and the value of television rights, merchandise and annual sponsorship bids; all of which would be less lucrative if Wimbledon lacked its historic and cultural associations.

    The brand 'Wimbledon' evokes a whole range of associations with British taste and style which sponsors can capitalise upon. By associating with Wimbledon, sponsors are saying 'We're elegant, timeless, and sophisticated — we are British'.

    Likewise, The Age sponsors Colonial Stadium ... erm ... Telstra Dome to emphasise its Melburnian, sporting identity. Will the stadium retain this value, such as it is, when it becomes Etihad Stadium in March? Will Melburnians view Etihad as a brand with local connections, or as a coloniser?
    In 50 years, when Perth's old folks reminisce about watching the Force at a stadium named for a bank, will their children gaze at the Pier Street stadium with the same reverence we reserve for Subiaco? Will breweries vie with airlines for the chance to associate themselves with old ACER arena, that fondly regarded local institution? Or will it be regarded as just a local incarnation of an international franchise?

    What we sell these sponsors is an opportunity to increase their 'brand recognition'. Perhaps we should nurture our institutions' own identities first — it's what the marketing pros call 'creating value'. Yeah, I know. And these are the people naming our stadiums.


    Edwina Byrne is a recent graduate of Melbourne University with degrees in History and Musicology. She is currently trekking in the Patagonian Andes and hopes to work in publishing when she returns.

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    Legend Contributor Thequeerone's Avatar
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    sad but true - wonder if our children will call it the Emirates Cup

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    61 years between Grand Slams Was the wait worth it - Ya betta baby

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    That is some quality howling at the moon right there...

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    Champion Contributor tragic's Avatar
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    I agree with it.

    Every time a stadium is re-badged, I don't know whether it's a new facility or an existing one. And I still think of the Sheffield Shield as just that. If you change the title of something, you severe it from its history.

    I know there are arguments which say that the sponsorship dollars would not be there but for the branding. The problem is, it's now "naming", not just branding, and, well, it smells, really. It's putting the money before the sport. It puts the sponsor before the team. It puts the business before the fans.

    I always think of the Western Force as just that. I do not think of them as the Emirates Western Force. I can't. It just doesn't sit right. Are they saying that when the Emirates drop their sponsorship or they themselves get renamed, that our team will also change their name? Ridiculous!

    Harrumph.

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    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
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    he who pays the piper plays the tune

    stop being naive,sponsers pay big bucks for naming rights
    no naming rights,no money
    take your pick

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    Champion Contributor tragic's Avatar
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    Who are you calling naive?

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    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
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    Edwina

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    Champion Contributor tragic's Avatar
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    I don't think she's being naive. She knows where the money is coming from. But she also knows that not everything can be tagged with a price. The article asks the questions: is this what we want? Is this what we should settle for? Do we have to settle for it?
    I don't think these are new questions.

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    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    I think edwina has been watching BASEketball.....
    Posted via Mobile Device

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    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tragic View Post
    I don't think she's being naive. She knows where the money is coming from. But she also knows that not everything can be tagged with a price. The article asks the questions: is this what we want? Is this what we should settle for? Do we have to settle for it?
    I don't think these are new questions.
    when she talks about the reverence for Subiaco,I realise she is suffering from altitude sickness

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    Champion Contributor tragic's Avatar
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    I'm sure some people (AFLers) have some sort of misguided, strange reverence for Spewbi

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    Success is not final, failure is not fatal:
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    Senior Player Contributor Cowboy's Avatar
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    I tend to agree with the article, but see the subject within a broader context. As she mentions sports facilities are a part of our culture and ultimately an expression of pride. Saddly we don't tend to take alot of pride in our culture so it is really not a great supprise that we sell them out for really not a great deal of money, or that expenditure on sports facilities is always questioned.

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    (formerly known as Coach) Your Humble Servant Darren's Avatar
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    If you listen to radio coverage of games, they always append a sponsor name to the scoreboard (and other things...)

    There's no reason why we can't append our own sponsors ..

    From this point on, (on TWF) MES shall be now be known as TWF Stadium! (I may even be cheeky enough to hard code this)

    If anyone out there wants to to 'sponsor' TWF, I'm sure I could arrange something such that every occurence of "Emirates Western Force" or "Western Force" is replaced with "Company Name Western Force" ...

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    Immortal Contributor jono's Avatar
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    jb 'o force?

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    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    I've got ten bucks, can I have GIGS20 Western Force?

    edit Dammit, beaten by a ranga!

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    C'mon the

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