Cash shortfall if new stadium sponsor not found

Thursday, 13 November 2025

Hamilton City Council’s ten year naming agreement with FMG will come to a close next June.

Hamiltion’s biggest sporting venue is facing a potential funding shortfall if a new sponsor is not found

On Tuesday Hamilton City Council announced that they were taking expressions of interest from companies for naming rights to FMG Stadium Waikato.

The current sponsor was estimated to have paid in excess of $700,000 a year for naming rights to the Chief’s home ground.

It comes ahead of the council’s ten year naming agreement with insurer FMG — which was the first ever partnership for the stadium — coming to an end in June next year amid a flat economy.

During the partnership, hundreds of thousands of fans attended events at the stadium, including All Black tests, NRL games, and five FIFA Women’s World Cup matches in 2023.

Hamilton City Council deputy chief executive Sean Murray said he could not divulge the total funding shortfall, but was confident another sponsor would be found.

And even if the current naming rights lapsed without a new agreement being formed, the stadium’s revenue base always varied from year to year “depending on the amount of the number of events that come our way”.

Though FMG had the option to extend the deal by five years, Murray said they had indicated to the council that they would not be doing so.

FMG Stadium Waikato has hosted sporting events such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

“They signalled to us that they feel that it had been a great experience and a great investment on their part, but they have some other company priorities facing them at the moment.”

“We're disappointed that FMG are moving on, but we're also grateful for the time and the relationship we've had with them, and there are other people out there who will be very interested to talk to us.”

In a statement to the Times, FMG Chief Marketing Officer Pete Frizzell said that, “the 10 years as naming rights sponsor of FMG Stadium Waikato has achieved our aspirations. FMG will continue to have a strong presence in the Waikato region supporting farmers and growers.”

Murray declined to comment how much revenue the council was looking to generate from new sponsorship because their current naming deal with FMG was commercially sensitive.

However, an industry insider estimated at the time that the agreement between the council and FMG could be worth in excess of $700,000 a year.

At the time, the deal was subject to criticism about the lack of public consultation - former Waikato Times journalist and now Hamilton deputy mayor Geoff Taylor wrote in an opinion piece in 2016 that if he had his way, “I’d scrap that sponsorship immediately”.

The Times has sought comment from Taylor.

Murray said the arrangement with FMG had been about “more than the money”.

“The money's been great to offset the cost of the stadium, but the relationship has been even more valuable, and also the fit that that company had with our city and our region was particularly valuable.”

The council were looking to finalise new sponsorship by June next year and would be reaching out to contacts at different organisations, Murray said.

KingST Advertising CEO Chris Williams said it was hard to put a figure on how much revenue a naming partnership would garner, as it was often tied to other factors such as ticketing.

He said for the right brand, it could be a “great association”.

However, finding sponsorship in the current economic climate might be difficult, Williams said, because brands wanted to invest in campaigns that would have an immediate result.

“Sponsorships are great for the brand association, but they're more of a slow burner, and you've got to work hard to make them work.”

Asked what sort of brands might be interested in the naming partnership, he said that telecommunication and finance groups might be interested in the deal alongside infrastructure companies.

“They need to be in the same general space and size as FMG.”