Hampshire Cricket is looking to lead the way for sustainable development in cricket after signing up energy company Utilita as its new stadium naming rights sponsor.
The long-term deal builds on Utilita’s existing sponsorship of the club and sees the 25,000-capacity international cricket venue renamed the Utilita Bowl.
It had previously been known as the Ageas Bowl during personal insurance company’s 12-year stint as the holder of the stadium’s naming rights.
Alongside the changing of the naming rights, the headline element of the deal is the installation of more than 1,000 solar panels capable of generating around 25 per cent of the electricity used in the stadium each year.
This supports Hampshire Cricket’s ambition of making its home ground the ‘greenest international cricket venue in the world’ and will also save the club a six-figure sum annually in electricity costs, as well as saving 80 tonnes of carbon per year – the same level of emissions produced by driving over 300,000 miles in the average passenger vehicle.
Speaking to SportBusiness, Hampshire Cricket and Utilita Bowl chief executive, David Mann, said: “All of us in cricket have had increased sustainability aspirations over recent times. We’ve taken some steps, like reducing the use of single use plastic, monitoring our waste and using local suppliers, but it never really felt like we were moving the dial and doing anything really tangible.
“Our work with Utilita will be unique in that sense, it’s something that’s never been done before to this scale in cricket in the UK and be transformational in terms our carbon footprint, energy usage and the financial side in terms of cost savings which we can reinvest back into the business.”
Climate change, cricket’s role within it and its impact on the sport has come into sharper focus in recent years. England men’s T20 match against New Zealand at Edgbaston in September was English cricket’s first ‘sustainable cricket match’, marketed as a ‘go green game’.
Supported by sponsors National Express West Midlands and Drax, Edgbaston made sweeping changes to its operation for the matchday. This included wind, hydro and solar energy sourced by Drax, while National Express West Midlands provided free bus travel to and from the stadium for ticket holders
In Australia meanwhile, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) has become Australia’s first major stadium to run on 100 per cent renewable power.
Mann adds: “Hopefully this puts us in a position to lead the way in the UK and others in cricket will see what we’re doing and look to do something similar at other venues and ultimately all boats will rise together to make a tangible contribution to the effort to combat climate change.”
For Utilita, the hope is that its work with Hampshire Cricket will provide the ideal case study for the company to take to other sporting venues and convince them to engage in similar collaborations.
Jem Maidment, chief marketing officer at Utilita, told SportBusiness: “We are absolutely committed to making stadia and training facilities across the UK more sustainable. We’re very confident that we could go into any county cricket ground or Premier League football stadium, for example and have a positive effect that benefits the club and the venue.
“Energy is very much in the news with prices phenomenally high at the moment. As a nation, we have to look at new forms of energy and it’s very possible that sporting grounds and facilities already have the capability to generate their own energy, which is something Utilita can help facilitate.
“Achieving the objectives we’ve set out with Hampshire will therefore provide an excellent case study in proving that to potential partners.”
Utilita’s acquisition of the naming rights to the venue follows its 2023 expansion of its agreement with Premier League club Luton Town to include front-of-shirt rights. This forms part of a wider presence in football which sees it sponsor Crystal Palace and the English Football League (EFL).
Utilita’s arrival spells the end of Ageas’ 12-year run as naming rights sponsor of Hampshire’s stadium. The firm initially signed a six-year contract with the club in 2012, before announcing an early extension to this the following year.
Its sponsorship is said to have come to an amicable and natural conclusion.
Mann said: “If it weren’t for Ageas we wouldn’t be here as a club, simple as that. The former chief executive of Ageas remains on the board at the club and the initial deal we did was really instrumental in us being able to get funding from the council to take the venue to where it is today.”
The newly named Utilita Bowl will host 21 international cricket fixtures in the period from 2024 to 2031, including both a men’s and women’s Ashes test match. The venue also hosts live music on an annual basis.