Bird's Nest to offer up naming rights to 84 boxes
- Source: Global Times
- [08:50 March 23 2011]
- Comments
Statues are on the mark in the Bird's Nest in September 2010. Photo: Wang Zi
By Xu Tianran
The National Stadium, commonly known as the Bird's Nest, is planning to sell the naming rights to 84 of its approximately 140 boxes.
According to stadium publicity office director Shi Lei, aside from brand name exposure, future naming rights holders will be given priority and discounts when buying tickets, free parking places, free coffee and cakes and other privileged services.
"[Bidding] will start soon, and buyers must be enterprises," Shi told the Global Times, without going into detail.
Guo Wanxin, director of the New Economy and New Industries Tsinghua University Research Center and the chief inspector of the 2010 Shanghai Expo China pavilion, said it is common in other countries to sell the naming rights of loges, or even a stadium, for profit.
"To manage big stadiums is a global dilemma, as it requires a lot of money for maintenance and administration," Guo explained, adding that the situation of stadiums in China is worse because grandiose projects are favored here.
"The Bird's Nest was designed for the Olympics, not for the post-Olympic era," Guo said. "My personal opinion is that the inner space of the National Stadium is too big.
"It is not suitable for performances and smaller-scale events, and severely limited in its profitability," he added.
"I assume there will be more, similar measures coming," Guo said of the plans for the Bird's Nest.
Zhang Hengli, former operations inspector of National Stadium Ltd, a joint venture of the CITIC consortium and the Beijing State-Owned Assets Management Co., Ltd, announced in 2007 that the naming rights of the whole stadium would be available for sale.
That idea was dropped after CITIC's 30-year authorization to manage the venue was returned to the government in 2010 because National Stadium Ltd could not afford the venue's 70 million yuan ($10.68 million) annual maintenance cost.
"We don't have plans to sell the naming rights of the stadium now," Shi said, adding that the stadium currently is breaking even.
