PCB plans to rename Gaddafi Stadium

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is in negotiation with a number of sponsor companies to rename Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium for financial reasons, nearly 50 years after it was named after former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi.

PCB chairman Ramiz Raja was quoted as saying that the cricket board was in “advanced negotiations” with a number of sponsors. The highest bidder would win the right to have the stadium renamed after it.

There have been a number of attempts in the past to change the name of the iconic stadium — suspected for ‘political reasons’.

“This [change of name] is purely financial,” Ramiz told the publication, adding that other stadiums in the country, including the National Stadium Karachi, could well be renamed too.

“We acquired the services of YouGov to estimate the brand worth of our stadiums, and how much sponsorship deals would be worth,” Ramiz said. “That’s not just true of the Gaddafi Stadium, but also the NSK and others. We’ve been working towards this for a while, and the response from sponsors has been satisfactory. Once we finalise a deal [for Lahore], the name Gaddafi will go completely, with a sponsor’s name replacing it.”

It’s worth noting that when the stadium was built in 1959, it was initially called Lahore Stadium. However, on his 1974 visit to Lahore, Gaddafi delivered a statement at the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in support of Pakistan’s right to seek nuclear weapons. It prompted Pakistan’s then-prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to name the country’s premier cricket stadium after the Libyan leader.