[Former Member 406]

The Olympics & Paralympics do the same thing, when using existing sponsor-branded venues for some events.

For the London 2012 games' gymnastics and basketball, for example, The O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome) was temporarily renamed as the "North Greenwich Arena".

If shots of the arena exterior will feature prominently throughout the ESC coverage, it's understandable that the Beeb won't want the product placement for M&S Bank.

[JosiahStuart]

For ESC 2011, Merkur Spielarena in Düsseldorf was known as Düsseldorf Arena, for ESC 2018, Altice Arena was known as Lisbon Arena, and for ESC last year, the Pala Alpitour in Turin was known by its short, non-sponsor name, PalaOlimpico.

[JamesWorldNews]

BBC News: Maryam Moshiri will be on location this week:

twitter.com 

[Keith]

If shots of the arena exterior will feature prominently throughout the ESC coverage, it's understandable that the Beeb won't want the product placement for M&S Bank.

Presumably it was a condition of whichever venue in the UK hosted it. It might also be an EBU requirement not to display a sponsors name, rather than a BBC one.

Hopefully they're using the current version of the BBC logo, rather than the old one.

[Brekkie]

It's common for many major international events.

[Onion Terror]

Calling it the BBC Arena is a bit daft, as that’s just throwing red meat to certain commentators and news outlets. When the arena opened back in 2008 it was called the ACC (Arena and Conference Centre) and there are still road signs referring to that: why not use that?

[Scrotnig]

Calling it the BBC Arena is a bit daft, as that’s just throwing red meat to certain commentators and news outlets. When the arena opened back in 2008 it was called the ACC (Arena and Conference Centre) and there are still road signs referring to that: why not use that?

The BBC should not pander to anti-BBC sentiment.

[Onion Terror]

Calling it the BBC Arena is a bit daft, as that’s just throwing red meat to certain commentators and news outlets. When the arena opened back in 2008 it was called the ACC (Arena and Conference Centre) and there are still road signs referring to that: why not use that?

The BBC should not pander to anti-BBC sentiment.

Oh I agree it shouldn’t, but it also shouldn’t be throwing petrol on those flames either.

I love the BBC but it can be its own worst enemy sometimes.

[Joe]

What would the objection be to the temporary renaming?

[Tvarchive]

It's listed as the "Liverpool Arena" in the official programme so the name change has been planned for months