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Plans for the £400 million redevelopment of Lord's cricket ground were unveiled today.
Five of its stands would be rebuilt and flats would be erected around the perimeter to help fund the transformation of the home of cricket.
But reports that Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns the ground, would consider selling naming rights to a commercial sponsor have been fiercely denied.
MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw said today: “I just want to reassure people that there's no way we would rename Lord's. It's the home of cricket, the hallowed turf. It's not an option at all.”
Mr Bradshaw said he even had a problem changing the names of the stands that are dedicated to famous cricketers — the Allen, Warner, Compton and Edrich stands. These and the Tavern stand are due to be rebuilt under MCC's Vision for Lord's proposals.
“They're very famous names and I couldn't see the day, certainly in my time, when we'd want to be naming them after a sponsor,” he told BBC 5 Live this morning. “I do feel to a degree that would be selling our soul.
“To play at Lord's is a very special experience, Lord's has such a wonderful history and tradition and it's those traditions that we need to preserve.”
The proposals, which are being overseen by a committee that includes former prime minister Sir John Major and former England cricket captains Mike Atherton and Tony Lewis, aim to bring the world's most famous cricket ground into the modern era.
They would be the most radical change to Lord's in its 195-year history and would increase its capacity from 29,493 to 36,990 — easing massive demand for Test match tickets.
The new stands are being designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the architects responsible for the “bird's nest” Olympic stadium in Beijing and the transformation of the Tate Modern into an art gallery.
A 12ft brick wall would be demolished as would some Victorian terrace homes, while the new flats could sell for around £1.2 million each — though they will not overlook the pitch.
Work, which would require the approval of Westminster council and Mayor Boris Johnson, is not expected to begin until 2011 and could take a decade to complete.
Reader views (4)
St - Fair point, if factually incorrect. Within England the sport is controlled by the ECB, whilst the ICC control the game globally (as per the FA and FIFA in football). Both, without question, have done an infinitely better job in properly managing and popularising the sport than the MCC ever did. The plain fact is that the MCC were really not that bothered about the long term health of the sport, either internally or abroad, so long as their own members' interests were looked after.
- Richard, London UK, 19/11/2009 15:40
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"may not actually control the game in England anymore (and praise be for that mercy!)"
Ah yes, because of course the ICC has done such a great job since taking the reins...
- St, London, 19/11/2009 14:23
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The fact that the MCC seems to think that the mere notion of commercial naming rights for Lords is morally "beneath it" and in some, unspecific, way will undermine the traditional aspects of the game serves only to indicate to the outside sporting world how far up their own backsides the MCC still are. They may not actually control the game in England anymore (and praise be for that mercy!)but as a hugely wealthy private club looking after cricket's premier stadium, they remain as reactionary as ever and still live in their own strange little antiquated world, where the differences between Gentlemen and Players still remain and G&Ts are served on the verandah after tiffin as the sun sinks over the pink half of the world. They would be utterly laughable if they didn't still exert some influence on the sport in the UK.
A few miles away, in a part of London most MCC members are probably too scared to set foot in, the world's oldest Test venue continues to improve and prosper, having gone by various "official" commercial names for over 15 years at least. In practice, only the marketing men ever use the commercial part of the name - to the rest of the cricket world it remains, as always, just "The Oval" and no harm is done to it.
- Richard, London UK, 19/11/2009 10:33
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No need to rename it, just change the "L" for a pounds sign "£", that`ll be more appropriate for todays mega-buck loadsamunney sports celebs.
- Darius, London UK, 18/11/2009 12:52
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