Harker, from Northallerton in North Yorkshire was chosen as the winner of a unique competition run by Durham and Emirates Airline to rename the stadium which is based in the North East of England. His entry impressed the judging panel after they closely deliberated the hundreds of entries received since the competition launched on 17th May.
As if helping to name your team’s stadium wouldn’t give a fan enough bragging rights amongst their friends, lucky Harker also won a trip to Australia to watch an Ashes Test later this year. The incredible prize includes a pair of return air tickets direct from Newcastle with Emirates to Australia and match tickets for all 5 days of a Test, all courtesy of the airline.
The unveiling of the stadium’s name is part of Emirates’ enhanced sponsorship of Durham County Cricket Club. The agreement, which will run for at least 6 years, includes stadium naming rights as well as branding on the team’s t20 shirts and around the ‘Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground’.
The ceremony to reveal the new stadium name was held directly before Durham’s home t20 match against the Lancashire Lightning in front of a sell-out crowd. The North East is now home to Emirates’ second stadium naming rights deal in the UK after of course the Emirates Stadium in North London. In partnership with Newcastle International Airport, the airline also sponsors the Emirates Tower – the airport’s state-of-the-art air traffic control tower which opened in September 2007 a few days after the airline launched services from the airport.
The 8,000-strong crowd witnessed local children revealing the name in the form of a giant pitch banner to a blaze of fireworks and music watched by Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman Emirates Airline & Group. He commented: “The renaming of Durham’s County Ground to the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground will further cement our presence in the North East where we already fly daily from Newcastle to Dubai and beyond. The atmosphere here at today’s game was something very special and I’m tremendously proud to attach the Emirates brand to a venue so important within the North East community.”
In addition to the unveiling of the stadium’s new name, attending fans were treated to a variety of promotions by Emirates including the popular ‘Emirates Upgrade’ where two lucky fans are selected at random to move to hospitality seating just before the start of the match. This was followed during the interval by the ‘Spot the Cap’ promotion where another 2 fans, wearing their ‘Fly Emirates’ baseball caps, were picked at random on the big screen to win tickets for a future Durham match at the all new ‘Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground’. CEO of Durham County Cricket Club, David Harker, added: “The competition was really well received by our supporters and sports lovers from the North East and further afield. A great amount of thought went into many of the entries and there was some excellent reasoning behind the ideas we received. It was great to see the interest and passion that people have for both Durham County Cricket Club and the future of international cricket in our region.”
“The winning suggestion encapsulates all the key elements of what Durham County Cricket Club and Emirates Airline have set out to achieve with our exciting new partnership. The ‘Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground’ is a name that announces the venue as an important fixture on the international sporting scene, a position we have worked hard to achieve, while reinforcing our place in the North East to raise awareness of the region around the world.”
Emirates is committed to sports sponsorship around the world for more than twenty years, and this sponsorship of Durham County Cricket is part of an extensive cricket portfolio. In addition to its Official partnership with the ICC until 2015, Emirates is official sponsor of the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires, the Pro Arch Trophy and the Lord’s Taverners.
This new partnership with Durham comes as Emirates’ daily flight from Newcastle goes from strength to strength. Passenger numbers in the first quarter of this year grew more than 20 per cent with over 21,000 travelers using the service to fly directly from the North East to Dubai and beyond, with the most popular onward destinations including Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. During the same period, Emirates SkyCargo carried over 720,000 kilos – a sharp rise over the previous year.
ENDS
Contacts
For more information on Emirates Airline please contact:
Charlie Hampton at Bell Pottinger on +44 7884 187 297 or at champton@bell-pottinger.co.uk
Or
Daniel Krendel at Fast Track on +44 7770 580 411 or at daniel.krendel@fasttrackagency.com
For more information on Durham County Cricket Club please contact Mark Foster, Director of Marketing, on +44 (0) 7500 999 083 or at mark.foster@durhamccc.co.uk
Notes to editors
Image 3 (Flanked by Emirates Airline cabin crew from left to right) – Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman, Emirates Airline & Group and Clive Leach, Chairman of Durham County Cricket Club.
Emirates operates 98 non-stop flights per week from the UK to Dubai and beyond. In addition to its daily service from Newcastle, the airline operates five services a day from Heathrow, three daily from Gatwick, two per day from Manchester and Birmingham, and a daily service from Glasgow. Emirates commenced services to Tokyo on 28th March and Amsterdam from 1st May. Its route network which spans over 100 destinations across six continents is continuing to grow this year with the launch of services to Prague, Madrid, Dakar, Al Medinah al Munawarrah and Baghdad.
Since its launch in 1985, Emirates Airline has received more than 400 international awards in recognition of its efforts to provide unsurpassed levels of customer service. Onboard passengers can enjoy state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment, meals produced by leading chefs and some of the finest wines available. Advance seat selection is complimentary on all flights, and Emirates recently increased baggage allowances for First Class, Business Class and Economy Class passengers to 50kgs, 40kgs and 30kgs respectively.
For more information, please visit www.emirates.com/uk