O2, the consumer brand that will replace BT Cellnet in the spring,
is poised to clash with Middlesbrough FC over the Premier League club's
stadium naming rights.
BT Cellnet has been the title sponsor of Middlesbrough's stadium, known
as the BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium, since it opened in 1995.
Last week the telecoms company gave notice that it will discontinue its
shirt sponsorship, which has also run for seven years, at the end of
this season. However, the stadium sponsorship is contracted to run for
another three years.
MmO2 is keen to change the name of the stadium to incorporate the O2
brand in time for the start of the new football season in August, but
the club insists that no proposal to do so has yet been received and
might not be accepted.
MmO2 head of sponsorship Alex Lichtenfeld said the club was
contractually obliged to change the stadium's name but admitted the
company may look to sell the stadium naming rights either to a new
sponsor or back to the club.
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