St James' Park
Sportsdirect.com @ StJames'Park (2009) Sports Direct Arena (2011-2012)
- Newcastle United ( since 1892 )
- Newcastle West End (1886-1892)
- European Football Championship 1996
- Rugby Union World Cup 2015
- Olympic Games 2012
The St. James ' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the home stadium of Newcastle United and the oldest and largest in North East England. The stadium holds 52,387 seats, all covered. It is therefore the time to Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium, the third largest stadium League in England and the sixth largest in the United Kingdom.
History
At St James' Park is typical of england is a pure football stadium, ie the ranks begin close to the lawn. It is one of the most impressive British stadiums ever since two grandstands are very high and tower over the other two, relatively low stands to more than double. These two " huge " stands exist since 2002. Previously, all stands were equal. Before removing the stadium took around 36,000 spectators.
The St. James ' Park was one of the eight stages of the UEFA European Football Championship in England in 1996. During the 2012 Olympic Games here seven preliminaries and two quarter-finals of the Olympic football tournament took place. He is also the venue for the preliminary matches of the Rugby Union World Cup 2015.
Naming
From 1892 to 2009, the stadium was continuously St James' Park before the club owner Mike Ashley Newcastle United Stadium temporarily renamed Sportsdirect.com @ StJames'Park after his company Sports Direct. The aim of this renaming, for which there was no separate financial contribution was to draw attention to the free naming rights to sell this profitably can. After some time the name change, however, was reversed. However, a title sponsor could not be found. In November 2011, Ashley repeated this action. This time, the stadium was renamed Sports Direct Arena. Some eleven months later, the payday loan company Wonga acquired the naming rights to the stadium. In a naming of the stadium after the company's own name Wonga waived, however, and gave the stadium instead back the old name St James' Park.