Eagles sponsorship clash
The WA Football Commission has held talks with West Coast in a bid to solve a sponsorship clash that has angered the naming-rights holder of Domain Stadium.
Real estate website Domain bought the naming rights to the Subiaco venue in February, a lucrative three-year deal that will run until the planned opening of the new stadium at Burswood in 2018.
But the Eagles’ decision to sign realestate.com.au as a sponsor this season prompted the WAFC to challenge the club on behalf of Domain over the competition between the rival property portals.
It is understood the issue remained at a stalemate last night and the WAFC may not have any power to intervene.
Digital advertisements for realestate.com.au are prominent at all West Coast home matches as part of their deal, appearing on the ground’s main big screen, that doubles as a scoreboard.
Domain’s logo is separately displayed in large lettering at three high-profile points inside the stadium and also on the outside of the venue.
The naming-rights deal is believed to be worth about $600,000 a year. Domain took over naming rights to the venue from Patersons Securities on February 9.
The West Australian understands the partnership between West Coast and realestate.com.au was confirmed between that announcement and the club’s first home game, the round-two match against Carlton on April 10.
The deal is believed to be worth up to $200,000 a year to the Eagles. The club has the right to sign sponsors without seeking the WAFC’s approval.
Domain director of communications John Hine said the property company was “genuinely pleased” with the exposure from its sponsorship of the ground.
“We’re pretty confident that the WAFC will address any issues at all to do with category exclusivity into the future,” he said.
“Just like both Perth clubs are strong at the minute and that’s good for football, we think two strong competitors in the Perth market are great for real estate agents and vendors.”
West Coast declined to comment yesterday.
WAFC chief executive Gary Walton denied it made moves to buy out the realestate.com.au sponsorship to satisfy Domain.
He said the ability of both the commission and the two AFL clubs to generate revenue from the stadium was a strength of WA football’s integrated model.
“This does have the potential to present challenges around category exclusivity for sponsors from time to time,” he said. “The WAFC has not purchased sponsorship properties from either of our AFL clubs and will continue to ensure the obligations of our sponsors are met.”
