Etihad Stadium

[Robert Zweck]

A few months ago there was a lot of publicity about Melbourne's Telstra Dome changing its naming rights to..

ETIHAD Stadium

With the footy season about to get underway, I notice they still refer to it as Telstra Dome.

Did the sponsorship fall through??

Not to be confused with Telstra Stadium which is the Sydney 2000 Olympic site.

Can't wait for the footy to start...go the Crows!

[Seth Jaworski]

Telstra stadium in Sydney is now ANZ stadium.

[Marty H]

Can't wait for the footy to start...go the Crows!

Am going to ETIHAD Stadium Saturday night to see the might of SA:D

Walker is reported to be going to suit up, be great to see how he goes after shining in the SANFL last year;)

[Justin L]

From memory I think the new naming rights begin from March.

[Sarah C]

I am sure it takes affect at the official start of the AFL season. I can't remember if they had March 1 as the start day or the first game during Round 1.

[Rhys Xanthis]

Watch for some conflict here - The AFL aren't keen at all to call it Etihad stadium because Collingwood is sponsored by Emirates.

I think they both should go to hell and call it what its named :)

[Justin L]

Watch for some conflict here - The AFL aren't keen at all to call it Etihad stadium because Collingwood is sponsored by Emirates.

I think they both should go to hell and call it what its named :)

I think you'll find the conflict is less to do with Collingwood (although Collingwood have raised their concerns) and more to do with the fact that Qantas is the AFL's official airline.

[Marty H]

Watch for some conflict here - The AFL aren't keen at all to call it Etihad stadium because Collingwood is sponsored by Emirates.

I think they both should go to hell and call it what its named :)


The MCG is Collingwoods 'home' ground so there should be no issue, be like Ford carrying on because the AFL's major sponsor is Toyota, yet Ford sponsor Geelong.

[Adrian B]

They nhave started to change the Eastern sign

[BradR]

AFL wasn't happy to Docklands management and demanded that they hand over all details of the deal with Etihad. They felt it compromised their deal with Qantas though how this compromises it more than Collingwood's deal with Emirates was not explained. Docklands management told AFL to "stuff-it" and name change will take place before start of premiership season.

AFL is a bit haphazard on who it allows as sponsors. Tiger Airlines was not allowed to sponsor Richmond due to Qantas sponsirship of AFL but Emirates was allowed to sponsor Collingwood. Likewise AFL did not allow SportsBet to sponsor RIchmond because of Tabcorp sponsorship but allowed Richmond to accept Luxbet.com:confused:

Brad

[Dan Hammond]

Doesnt Jetstar have something to do with Geelong as well?

[Matthew Chisholm]

Maybe everyone should adopt the ABC radio approach when it comes to naming rights of sporting grounds.

[Robert Zweck]

Doesnt Jetstar have something to do with Geelong as well?

Jetstar sponsor Geelong, their logo can easily be seen on TV up near the northern goals at Skilled Stadium.

Jetstar also sponsor the new Gold Coast NRL team....VH-VQP logo?

[Robert Zweck]

Walker is reported to be going to suit up, be great to see how he goes after shining in the SANFL last year;)

Saw Taylor Walker play a few games for Norwood late last season, he is unusually well balanced in his movements, everything about him is so well synchronised

" The Smoother Mover " is what we call him.

[Rhys Xanthis]

AFL Management can go die in a hole anyway, who cares what they think or do, all they see is a stupid dollar sign in front of them.

Back on topic, good to see they are changing the signs. I was there watching an A-League game about a month ago and was thinking about the name change - it sounds better than "Telstra Dome," and the Etihad logo looks pretty god anyway - Better than Telstra's!

[Andrew P]

it sounds better than "Telstra Dome," and the Etihad logo looks pretty god anyway - Better than Telstra's!

agree as Allah is behind Etihad too

Banjo

[Robert Zweck]

I think there will be some fireworks this week.....this issue isn't over by a long shot.

Although Qantas is the AFL's official airline, I have seen certain AFL people travelling with Virgin Blue.

[Rhys Xanthis]

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

From what i hear the AFL are going to be calling it "Docklands".

All well and good, but what about the car companies? Toyota are the majot sponsor of the AFL, yet there was no issue with Carlton signing Hyundai, and Geelong having Ford.

The AFL management are a bunch of complete tools anyway. As long as those fools are still there, no one will care.

[Craig Sandford]

I personally welcome the reference to "Docklands", but the timing certainly seems to be out. My members fixture from Brisbane refers to "Telstra Dome" all season, so that is one year of missing subtle advertising on my fridge for Etihad.

I have a problem with the AFL dictating allowable sponsorships as it smacks of a restriction of trade, and quite frankly there isn't enough corporates in Australia to allow exclusions and not hurt clubs fundraising abilities. I recall the small fracas when Toyota became an AFL sponsor in regards to Ford advertising at Kardinia Park. Ford have sponsored Geelong for over 40 years, and have demonstrated a commitment to the game that is lacking amongst some administrators.

In tying it back to aviation. Jetstar signage at Kardinia park makes sense given the close proximity of Avalon (and that they are the only airline offering RPT flights from there). I would also expect Jetstar to be a major sponsor of the Gold Coast team when it kicks off.

I'm also enjoying the Qantas sponsorship of the AFL. How else can I get to log a BNE/LST or ADL/LST sector on a QF flight number? :D

[Robert Zweck]

Qantas are only too happy to schedule direct flights for travelling teams.....

e.g. PER-LST direct
ADL-LST, etc