Cape Town Stadium naming rights up for grabs

Cape Town Stadium is to get a new name.

The 68‚000-seat venue‚ built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup‚ is looking for bidders who want to attach their names to one of the world’s most spectacularly situated stadiums.

As the first step‚ the City of Cape Town wants to appoint a company to conduct an auction for naming rights.

Stuart Diamond‚ mayoral committee member for assets and facilities‚ said naming rights was one of the most important income streams that had been identified for the loss-making stadium.

“The city is in the process of establishing a private company [a municipal entity] much like the company that runs the Cape Town International Convention Centre‚ to manage the Cape Town Stadium in a more commercially viable manner‚” he said.

“A decision was taken to commence with taking the naming rights of the Cape Town Stadium to the market‚ through the appointment of an expert service provider by way of a competitive process.”

This was a specialist field‚ Diamond said‚ and the council wanted to “partner with a specialist major stadium naming rights adviser to assist it with the sustainable and lucrative exploitation of the Cape Town Stadium naming rights”.

He added: “The appointment of such a skilled and experienced specialist with a proven local and/or international track record will allow for a more streamlined and less time-consuming but still competitive … naming rights process.”

Diamond said the market would determine the value of naming rights. The successful bidder would advise on a timeline after being appointed on February 9.

“The city will be looking at sponsors that relate to its ethos and brand. It will be expected that the sponsor will have a reputable corporate image and that their brand principles are aligned with those of the city‚” he said.

Meanwhile‚ discussions were continuing between the city council and the Western Province Rugby Union about rugby’s move from Newlands to the stadium.