Saracens to sell naming rights?!

[Mem Beespod]

How is this possible that they get a freebie and then are able to sell off the naming rights? Suggests that maybe Barnet Council get a cut and this was why it was pushed through.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ju ... rk-stadium

[BeeBoi1980]

Oh dear, I tend to have meetings at Allianz HQ in Munich every couple of months, I think I may have to have a word with the powers that be, not happy about this one!

[beeamazed]

How is this possible that they get a freebie and then are able to sell off the naming rights? Suggests that maybe Barnet Council get a cut and this was why it was pushed through.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ju ... rk-stadium

Are you suggesting that Barnet Council are corrupt?
Treading on dangerous ground there ....

[Mem Beespod]

How does it look to you?

Are you aware of the Pinkham Way problem? If not read about it and you will see our good friends at Barnet Council have some questions to answer for that too.

[miguelito]

Compare and contrast:

Saracens pay £99 for Copthall, and get an £8m naming rights deal.

Barnet FC pay £10k for Underhill freehold, and get accused of swindling the council, court cases, auditor's inquiries and a totally un-cooperative response (aka "We bent over backwards to help Barnet FC" - but the council bent over forwards for Saracens).

[becbee]

Presumably someone at Saracens has a connection with this company which is how the sponsorship deal has come about. No point moaning about the Council, I can't imagine this deal has anything to do with them.
It wouldn't matter which ground we were playing at, no German financial service provider would want to sponsor us. Or any other English L2 club for that matter.

[Moonchild_Bee]

It wouldn't matter which ground we were playing at, no German financial service provider would want to sponsor us. Or any other English L2 club for that matter.

I don't really see that as the point though - it's that Saracens have already made a £7,999,901 profit from the ground that the Council have given them, whilst they pursued vendettas through the courts at vast cost to Barnet residents against BFC to stop us profiteering from Underhill.

[Norfolkbee]

Surely this is a tied on case for the Local Government Ombudsman. Local authorities are bound by law to achieve "best value" for their council tax payers.

[Moonchild_Bee]

Not sure who this gentlelady/man is, but their blog is well read in Barnet:

http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07 ... -whos.html

As far as I'm concerned the Barnet taxpayer has been taken to the cleaners in this deal.

Barnet FC are the local club, but have been driven out of the Borough. The Council attached no value to the benefit of having a leage club with the name of the Borough. Every time the football scores are read out, the profile of Barnet is raised. What does Saracens playing at the Allianz Arena do for Barnet?

[beeamazed]

Copthall/Allianz is history....forget it.
I think the fact we might be seeing our team play some really good stuff
this year is far more worthy of board chat.

[Norfolkbee]

Copthall/Allianz is history....forget it.
I think the fact we might be seeing our team play some really good stuff
this year is far more worthy of board chat.

Football-wise Cophall is history for Barnet, but for the borough's council tax payers (which thankfully I am not) it's a scandal that could have further implications for the current incumbants at Hendon Town Hall.

[Edd1]

To be honest the whole sorry tail absolutely stinks.

Copthall, run down though it is, was a major council asset which the council are obliged to use for the benefit of residents of the borough. Saracens are, as rugby goes, a pretty well supported club. When they move in a lot of paying punters are going to turn up there. Some on this board are likely to be among them. Surely the Council should have been thinking about getting a slice of that action? You don't just give an asset like that away.

There was clearly some reasoning behind it. Something stinks. Badly.

There is nothing we can do now that will benefit Barnet FC. Those who are council tax payers in the borough though have every right to be asking some very awkward questions right now and I wonder if some freedom of information requests may be in order?

[ninestein]

Agree with the above. Copthall is gone and whilst it's painful watching Saracens move in, we have to focus our efforts positively on supporting our own club, it needs us now more than ever.

By the looks of things plenty of people have already started questioning the council on the whole saga. We don't need to meddle with this situation any further.