Women’s World Cup winner Richa Ghosh may soon have a cricket stadium named after her in her hometown Siliguri. She may be a rare cricketer to have a venue named after her, at least in India. Here, we mostly have stadiums named after politicians and administrators, even businessmen.
For stadiums named after cricketing heroes, one has to turn to the Caribbean, Sri Lanka or Australia where one finds venues christened after personalities such as Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Darren Sammy, Muttiah Muralitharan and Allan Border. The Indian women’s team has already broken new ground by their cricketing exploits, but it remains to be seen whether Richa will make history of another kind, as promised by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
In India, there is no shortage of stands, pavilions and gates in major stadiums named after great players. In fact, Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium is running out of stands, pavilions, gates and media centre to honour the metropolis’ rich cricketing history. Across the border in Pakistan, there’s even a stadium named after an erstwhile ruler of another country, Muammar Gaddafi.
In many countries, it’s not uncommon to have stadiums named after sponsors and entities bidding to have their names associated with a famous arena.
Across sports, there are at least nine stadiums named after Jawaharlal Nehru, five – by a conservative estimate – after Indira Gandhi, and no fewer than 19 after Rajiv Gandhi. Considering that sports bodies are almost always headed by politicians, and governments have a big say in providing land and other permissions and facilities for constructing stadiums, it’s not surprising in the least.
All the stadiums named after Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi came up after their demise. Times have changed and now we have the renovated Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which hosted most of the marquee matches of the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup, Indian Premier League finals and has been presented as the potential main venue in the bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics. The venue replaced the Sardar Patel Stadium, which had also hosted several high-profile games.
Learning from others
It seems this has given ideas to arguably the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump. The US president was the guest of honour at the ‘Namaste Trump’ event at the Ahmedabad stadium, which had not been named after the Indian prime minister then. An estimated one lakh to 1,25,000 people were in attendance as the two leaders made a great show of bonhomie and friendship.
Now in his second term and armed with an even greater sense of destiny and self-importance, not just to the United States but the whole world, Trump wants the Washington Commanders franchise of the National Football League to name their new stadium after him ‘as a tribute’ and a senior White House official put it in a matter-of-fact way to ESPN: “It’s what the president wants, and it will probably happen.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added for good measure: “That would be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible.”
It’s being said that the US president is not seeking to buy naming rights to the new venue at the RFK Stadium site or have a private donor do so. He wants the stadium to carry his name, just for the honour of doing so.
Of course, as president, there are a number of strings Trump can pull to get what he wants. There are a lot of entities involved in naming a stadium, but hardly anyone would want to be on the wrong side of such a commander-in-chief.
According to The Guardian, the Commanders own the rights to sell a commercial stadium sponsorship, but they cannot unilaterally decide to name the venue after an individual. The land is controlled by the National Park Service, and the District of Columbia Council will lease the stadium to the team under legislation it approved in September.
Trump has control over the federal agencies responsible for environmental and land-use approvals. That the stadium will be located in the nation’s capital gives him more leverage. As a source told The Guardian: “He has cards to play. He can make it very difficult to get this stadium built unless people align with him on the name.”
This is not the first time Trump has made his views known about the Washington franchise’s name, linking it to the prospective stadium. As recently as July, he threatened to block the development of the new venue if the owners didn’t restore the erstwhile nickname of the team, the Redskins, which was considered by many to be offensive to the indigenous American population.
Targeting legacy
Having a major sporting venue named after oneself is a way of securing one’s legacy for generations to come. Conversely, decisions about stadiums can also be used to target the legacy of personalities one has little affection for.
New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has been the main venue for the two biggest multisport extravaganzas the country has ever hosted – the 1982 Asiad and the 2010 Commonwealth Games – apart from countless other national and international events, as well as many non-sporting functions.
For the national capital, JLN – as it’s often called – is more than just a stadium. It’s part of the legacy and identity of the city. The tentative call – and at this moment, it’s little more than a balloon floated to assess which way the wind is blowing – to demolish the iconic venue to make way for a big sports city could be seen in that light.
It can be argued that the present ruling dispensation isn’t too fond of the name the stadium carries. It has already changed the name of the highest sporting award in the country from a former prime minister to the legendary Dhyan Chand. Demolishing the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will take it a step further, and if they do go through with it, it would be interesting to know what they would call the new sporting facility.
