The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to rename the historical stadium of Lahore after almost five decades. The Gaddafi Stadium Lahore was named in honor of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.
The iconic stadium of Lahore was initially named Lahore Stadium at the time of its construction in 1959. Later in 1974, the stadium was renamed by the Prime Minister of that time Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as Gaddafi Stadium after the former Libyan President visited Lahore and gave a speech in favor of Pakistan’s right to pursue nuclear weapons at the Organization of Islamic Conference.
However, the purpose of changing the stadium name is purely financial and not political. However, there were several attempts to change the stadium’s name in the past after Gaddafi was forced out of power, but the name was unchanged as it had no association with the political leader.
The PCB chairman Ramiz Raza told ESPNcricinfo that the board was negotiating with multiple sponsors for a while. One with the highest bid will win the right to have the stadium renamed after them.
“We acquired the services of YouGov to estimate the brand worth of our stadium and how much sponsorship deals would be worth,” Ramiz said.
National Stadium in Karachi and other major stadiums of the country will be renamed once sponsors are in line.
“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 finalize a deal [for Lahore], the name Gaddafi will go completely, with a sponsor’s name replacing it,” Ramiz concluded.
