User:Mosmof/Renaming of Hull City A.F.C.

The renaming of the association football club Hull City A.F.C. to Hull Tigers began in August 2013 as part of club chairman Assem Allam's stated intent to increase the club's global marketing appeal. He has faced opposition from supporters who have expressed a desire to keep the name that the club had held since its founding in 1904, as well as mixed reaction from marketing experts.

Developments
In August 2013, owner Assem Allam announced that the club has re-registered as "Hull City Tigers Ltd", and that the team would be marketed as "Hull City Tigers", removing the "Association Football Club" that had been part of the name since the club's formation in 1904. Vice-chairman Ehab Allam said "AFC" would remain on the club badge for the 2013–14 season, but removed thereafter.

In response, a Premier League spokesman said, "We have not been informed of a change in the name of the actual club. They will still be known as Hull City as far as the Premier League is concerned when results or fixtures are published."

On 11 December 2013, a spokesman for Hull City announced that the club had formally applied to the Football Association to have its name changed to "Hull Tigers" from the 2014–15 season onwards. The FA Council, which has "absolute discretion" in deciding whether to approve the plan or not, stated the next day that it would follow a "consultation process" with stakeholders, "including the club's supporter groups."

Motivation
Allam said, by 2014, the club would be further renamed "Hull Tigers," because, as he claimed, "in marketing, the shorter the name the more powerful [it is]," while "Association Football Club" made the name too long. Allam stated he dislikes the word "City", as it is too "common" and a "lousy identity", since it is associated also with other clubs, such as Leicester City, Bristol City and Manchester City. He told David Conn of The Guardian that "in a few years many clubs will follow and change their names to something more interesting and I will have proved I am a leader," adding that if he were the owner of Manchester City, he would change their name to "Manchester Hunter".

Allam justified the intended name change as part of his plans to create "additional sources of revenue" for the club, after Hull City Council refused to sell him the stadium freehold so he could develop, as he had stated, "a sports park" on the site. The council has refused to sell in order, as they stated, "to preserve the annual Hull Fair held on the adjacent car park." After the collapse of the negotiations, Allam stated "I had in mind £30 million to spend on the infrastructure of the club, to increase the stadium by 10,000 and to have commercial activities around the stadium – cafeterias, shops, supermarkets – to have all this to create income for the club so that in the future it can be self-financing and not relying on me." And asked rhetorically, "What if I dropped dead tomorrow?"

Supporter reaction
Supporters' groups expressed opposition to the name change. Bernard Noble, chairman of Hull City's official supporters club said he was disappointed, although he agreed that Allam had saved the club from liquidation and that it was "his club". Blogger Rick Skelton called the name change "a pointless exercise" and said, "Mr Allam's assertion that the name 'Hull City' is irrelevant and too common, is as disgusting a use of the English language as his new name for the club." Before the first home match of the season on 24 August 2013, a group of supporters marched in protest against the name change, and unfurled a banner that read, "Hull City AFC: a club not a brand". Allam dismissed complaints by the fans, stating "nobody questions my decisions in my business."

In a comment published on 1 December 2013 in The Independent in response to supporters' chants and banners of "City Till We Die", Allam said, "They can die as soon as they want, as long as they leave the club for the majority who just want to watch good football." The supporters responded with chants of "We're Hull City, we'll die when we want" during that day's home match against Liverpool. Manager Steve Bruce credited the controversy for creating " a fantastic atmosphere" but added, "I have got to have a conversation with him because I don't think he quite understands what it means in terms of history and tradition." However, Bruce also said that, because of the money Allam had invested in the club, "If he thinks Hull Tigers is his way forward then we have to respect it."

Other reactions
Some brand and marketing experts have come out in support of the name change. Nigel Currie, director of sports marketing agency Brand Rapport, stated that "the whole process has been conducted badly with the supporters, but [the name change] is a pretty sound idea." Simon Chadwick, professor of Sport Business Strategy and Marketing at the Coventry University Business School, believes the objective of opening up lucrative new markets for shirt sales, merchandise and broadcast deals shows commercial vision and could bring benefits, but "this needs to be backed up by a proper marketing strategy and investment." He says, "it's no use thinking changing the name or the colour of the shirt will pay instant dividends." David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association in the United States, warned: "I would say a wise owner [of a sports club] would view his ownership as something of a public trust, in addition to the profit motive, and you really do want to allow the fans a little bit more input than I think is being allowed, with respect to Hull."