The Lower Grounds

[flybo]

With Newcastle renaming there ground would it do any arm in Villa doing the same?
I have a couple of questions.
How long was Villa Park called The Lower Grounds?
Who decided on the rename the committee of the fans?

[cdbearsfan]

I don't think there was an official change, "Villa Park" just entered common usage and "The Lower Grounds" died out.

[dave.woodhall]

The Aston Lower Grounds was a pleasure park covering approximately nine times the area of the current Aston Park. Villa leased part to build a football ground; this was first unofficially called Villa Park shortly after its opening and the name gained in usage for around ten years until it stuck. 

[mrfuse]

No I don't want to change the Stadium name i don't think what you get out of it is worth the change.
If it meant a large sum of money that would be spent on the players or improving the youth maybe but that wouldnt happen so id rather not bother.

[olaftab]

The problem I see with  changing  the stadium name is do we change it every 3 years or so as currently happens with shirt sponsors?
Most of the PL teams have had  at least 10 shirt sponsor name changes since season 1982/3. We have had 12.  However  Reebok and Britannia  have been in there for the long haul so far as stadium sponsors.

[Ad@m]

The problem I see with  changing  the stadium name is do we change it every 3 years or so as currently happens with shirt sponsors?
Most of the PL teams have had  at least 10 shirt sponsor name changes since season 1982/3. We have had 12.  However  Reebok and Britannia  have been in there for the long haul so far as stadium sponsors.

Britannia signed up for 10 years on the opening of the stadium for the princely sum of £1 million.  No, not £1m per year.  £1 million, total.  They've extended that deal with the shirt sponsorship and now have a deal for the stadium until 2016.  Once they get to 2016 they will have paid a total amount of £15m to Stoke for stadium and shirt sponsorship.  And all that to name a ground that didn't have a name before so you'd expect the amount to be higher than if they'd sponsored a ground which already had a name.

It really isn't worth it!

[pauliewalnuts]

Newcastle are renaming their ground in the sense that the bloke who owns the club is naming it after his other business.

That's the important bit. They've not sold it to anyone else, this puts it in the shop window and garners a bit of free publicity.

Established grounds with names which have been around for over a century like St James' Park or Villa Park etc etc will never fetch top dollar for name changes for precisely that reason - everyone will call them what they've always been called.

[cdbearsfan]

Newcastle are renaming their ground in the sense that the bloke who owns the club is naming it after his other business.

That's the important bit. They've not sold it to anyone else, this puts it in the shop window and garners a bit of free publicity.

Established grounds with names which have been around for over a century like St James' Park or Villa Park etc etc will never fetch top dollar for name changes for precisely that reason - everyone will call them what they've always been called.

Sky and ESPN won't. That's all they care about.

[brian green]

The way world wide matters of finance are going we may soon reach the position where football clubs become the town or city which gave them birth.   Were it not for Mansour the city of Manchester would be well on the way to being designated Unitedville to widespread media acclaim. 

If our civic leaders had any foresight (which they don't) they would realize that as often as not the name and identity of their football club is better known and more respected than the conurbation in which they are located.   Middlesborough and the two Sheffield clubs are classic examples.

How many of us have visited places in Scotland other than Glasgow and Edinburgh yet the names of Forfar, Clyde, Motherwell, Dunfermline, Sterling etcetera are familiar to us all because they have active football teams which get wide publicity.

If you can place a conservation order on a concrete cow you should be able to place a conservation order on an historic place name.