It’s being reported that Millwall have rejected two offers from separate companies to rename The Den.
Both companies are said to have offered six figure sums in the sponsorship deal, but the club have rejected them owing to the involvement of the stadium name in the overall partnership.
Millwall are looking for for a commercial partner to sponsor the ground, but have no intention of ‘selling the soul’ of our history, and it appears the changes to the name that these companies wished to forward we’re a step too far, despite the lucrative nature of the offers.
Speaking to the Southwark News, commercial director Alan Williams explained.
‘We had two options but we turned them both down because they didn’t fit with what we wanted to do. For me, it’s fundamentally important that we keep ‘The Den’ in our name – and they didn’t want that. The offers we had were from brands that didn’t really work for us.’
Williams goes on to explain that if the club has sanctioned either of these deals it really would’ve just been a case of ‘taking the money’ irrespective of the bigger picture and the feelings of the fans, and you don’t have to look far in football to see what stadium name changes can stir up amongst a fanbase.
‘While that (money) is very important, we have to be respectful to our supporters and the history of the club. It would have to be ‘The Something Den’ or ‘The Den Powered By Something’.
Williams says that, subject to what further offers come in, whatever the club decide to do there can be no question that we totally change the name or the brand or destroy the history in the search of money unless such a ridiculous amount of money is offered that we simply have to entertain the idea for the long term stability of the club, and unfortunately the two offers weren’t high enough for us to even discuss such a brand change – stating one offer was £280,000 and the other £300,000 a season.
They were fantastic sums as they are obviously higher than our shirt sponsorship arrangement, and no doubt they would’ve been jumped at had it not been for The Den loss element.
‘That’s big money but it wasn’t big enough for us to devalue our brand – changing the name of The Den has to be financially viable for us. A very difficult decision had to be made by the board but we’re continually talking to people and we do have options.’
Williams ends the interview by saying that he’s confident a future partner will emerge who will offer silly money, or sensible money for the remit we prefer, because we are situated in a very powerful geographical position for advertising given the trains out of London Bridge.
‘100,000 people go past the stadium every day on the train, which means we have a big eyeball value.’
Vital Millwall on:
Vital Millwall on:
Millwall Spurn Stadium Sponsorship Offers
