According to British media chroniclelive, Newcastle United may still be unable to solve the key income-generating plan of St James' Park Stadium until 2026. Although Newcastle is still behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpoo...
According to British media chroniclelive, Newcastle United may still be unable to solve the key income-generating plan of St James' Park Stadium until 2026.
Although Newcastle is still behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham in terms of revenue, the behind-the-scenes work is still in progress. New CEO Hopkinson has already secured his seat at St James Park Stadium and is expected to have a significant impact on business activities.
Newcastle has made significant improvements in business revenue, but there is still room for improvement. In fact, the club has rejected some sponsorship agreements for training venues. Chief Commercial Officer Peter Silverstone has played an important role in attracting sponsors, and Hopkinson's joining will further enhance Newcastle's off-field opportunities, provided the two can form a successful partnership.
Hopkinson has extensive experience in global business activities. He has served as COO for Madison Square Garden Sports, responsible for operations of the New York Knicks (basketball) and New York Rangers (hockey), head of global partnerships at Real Madrid, and chief commercial officer at Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment, and responsible for Toronto's NBA and NHL teams - the Raptors and Maple Leafs. These experiences have built a good reputation.
His arrival will bring some tough decisions, and the term “change” has been mentioned frequently recently in the corridor of power at St. James Park. The club has doubled its staff and formed a large marketing team and reinforced media operations department as part of the new strategy.
The Saudi consortium has acquired Newcastle for four years, and although club executives have been cautious in brand building, such as the club badges and even decided to restore Sheringham's name as a stadium bar, there may be a concern that history will repeat itself.
Mike Ashley had tried to rename St. James Park Sports Direct Arena despite employee advice and posted cheap signs around the court, which aroused fans' disgust. Newcastle seems to be in trouble with little income, but one of the first things the new owner does is to remove the Sports Direct logo, just like Ashley’s removal of the St. James Park logo years ago.
Hopkinson has now understood the history and risks of the name change, and this time it can be different. Any name change move requires careful consultation with the fan group, but most fans have some understanding of PSR (potential sponsors) and understand that this may be considered a necessary solution as long as the brand connection is appropriate. "At MLSE (Canadian Franchise in Toronto), I led a number of transformative initiatives including the Scotiabank Arena Naming Agreement (worth over C$800 million) while also responsible for multiple professional sports franchises," said Hopkinson. The 20-year agreement for Scotiabank Arena has brought huge revenue to the Maple Leafs, but can Newcastle get inspiration from it, is it renovating St James Park or building a new stadium in Leazes Park?
The new executive has experience in this area, and in an interview with Forbes in 2019, Hopkinson said: "It is important to show that we have been thinking about their business, customers and their direction to match our customers, fans and ourselves, so I can come up with a smart way to work together." One of the major decisions facing Newcastle is whether to announce the search for short-term partners at the current St James Park Stadium, which is estimated to take 5 to 10 years to develop, and whether to stay in place or move to a new location is still undetermined, which means that a large amount of money may be missed.
Plus Everton gets £10 million a year from new sponsors at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Manchester City gets £15 million a year from Etihad Stadium and Arsenal gets £4 million a year from Emirates Stadium, Newcastle may lag further in terms of profits.
While Newcastle still has a long way to go, Hopkinson is ready to bring new inputs, and Ashley and his Sports Direct logo are long gone.
