From the 1 January, Gdansk’s stadium will be renamed the PGE Arena Gdansk, for a sponsorship sum of 35 million zloty.

The stadium, in the Baltic seaside city, is being constructed for the Euro2012 football championships, and the stadium’s name is being purchased by the Polish Energy Group (PGE) for 35 million zloty (about 8.5 million euro). The city auctioned off the name to the highest bidder – the only stipulation being that the name must include the word ‘Arena.’ Both the oil firm Lotos and PGE were the final competitors for the sponsorship.

PGE’s 35 million zloty offer has resulted in a contract valid from the beginning of 2010 for five years. The contract includes not only the name of the arena but the display of the firm’s logo in at least two locations at the top of the stadium, as well as in internal advertisements.

The city of Gdansk opted to sell the naming rights to the sports stadium in order to cover some of the costs of its construction, a total of 671 million zloty (162 million euro), set to be finished by 20 January 2011. (mmj)