British & Irish Lions
• British & Irish Lions tour Australia in 2013
Ireland Rugby
Landsdowne is no More, What should it be?
It’s been levelled, and even when it’s rebuilt it won’t be Landsdowne Road – forget the fact it won’t have that sweeping wind in the far corner, or the house in the ground, or the station running under the main stand… We all knew that, the bigger thing is it won’t even be called Landsdowne Road – as the naming rights go up for sale.
With an extimated cost of 4 million Euros for the first year, rising by 5% each year for 15 years it is an 84 million Euro deal – and if interest is high it could go a lot higher than this!
The usual suspects have been approached, the IRFU and FAI’s key partners and sponsors including O2, AIB, Eircom and Hewlett-Packard. Now the net is widening.
It is expected that the new sponsor will be chosen in around 8 months time and be ready well ahead of the opening in 2010. It’ll take time for the older generation of fans to stop calling it Lansdowne Road, but with 15 years on the deal, the new generation will no doubt know the venue only by another name.
Who would you like to see the sponsor be, and why? Both humorous and serious please!