LATICS’ commercial boss believes it is a no-brainer to explore the possibility of selling naming rights to Boundary Park once again.

Shortly after taking the helm in 2018 owner Abdallah Lemsagam ripped up a deal that saw Sports Direct have their name up in lights with the club’s historic home reverting to its famous name.

Now though, in a world where revenues continue to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, business development manager Jamie Stoddart believes not investigating the possibility of brining in revenue in that manner would be negligent.

“One of the first things Abdallah did was to return the name to Boundary Park and if I was in his position I would have done the same,” said Stoddart, in post since September 2019.

“It’s a real win to galvanise people and get them on side.

“It wasn’t something I wanted to bring up early on but there have been conversations in the last six months that it might be viable. The world has changed massively and nothing is off the table.

“The landscape has absolutely changed but it’s not us putting a flag in the ground saying ‘absolutely this is what we think is the way forward and will fix things forever more’.

“I would just hate for someone to be sat at home in five years saying ‘I would have loved to have done that, I just didn’t know it was possible’.

“I just want everything to be out there, we need to explore any possible opportunity to generate income, we have a duty to the fans to do that.

“There’s a lot of times this year where, and it’s not just us, it’s a lot of clubs in League One and Two, where you’re thinking about survival and keeping the club going.”

The chance of Boundary Park changing its name is very much in the early stages with Stoddart still gauging interest in a deal that could be structured in different ways.

“This is more or less the start,” he said. “I’ve not had what you would call a meaningful conversation with anybody.

“Some people see value in Jeff Stelling jumping out of his seat and shouting the stadium name, some people want visibility in the town.

“Nothing is set in stone, you’ve got to be adaptable to the needs of business people if you want to get them on board.”

Whatever deal could potentially be struck in the future, Stoddart is well aware of the sensitivities that come with a name change.

“If we were lucky enough to get something sorted we would include Boundary Park in there,” he added.

“You have a responsibility in this role. The club will be here long after me so you have a responsibility to look after it but money does talk to a certain extent.

“As long as I’m involved in it we will be sensitive around it. Attitudes have changed too, how long to these deals last? This has been Boundary Park for 125 years and it will always be that.”

Boundary Park is owned by Brassbank, the company of former Latics owners Simon Blitz and Danny Gazal, with clarity being sort on how any sponsorship deal would sit within the lease arrangement.