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WSJ Evening Wrap July 9, 2008 -- 5:57 p.m. EDT
Chrysler Building Sale
Sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Council has taken a 90% stake in the Chrysler Building, one of New York's most iconic skyscrapers. Tishman Speyer Properties, a New York landlord, will retain the remaining ownership piece and will manage the property.

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Are airlines in Formula 1 more than just hot air under the wings? [India Times]
The first of the Asian fleets to sponsor a team in the pinnacle of motor sport was Emirates. The UAE based airline signed a deal with the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team on 10th March 2006. Airline chief Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum had commented then, "Grand Prix racing attracts millions of followers around the globe, and we believe it will be an excellent vehicle to further Emirates' brand awareness internationally."

The advantages are limitless, and on tap for anyone with the capacity to be able to sponsor Formula 1 ...one of the highest television viewerships the world over (second only to the Olympic Games and the football World Cup, events which are held once every four years).

With such endless scope of reaching out to an audience that transcends all political boundaries, there is hardly a better mode of advertising especially for a company with truly global ambitions. And with tobacco advertising (the virtual bankroller of the sport for the better part of three decades) now having been consigned to history and off the cars, F1 had to find newer sources of funding.

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The buck doesn't stop with just the sponsorship of Formula 1 teams - the airline companies have now gone on to sponsor races as well. Gulf Air, the national airline of the Kingdom of Bahrain, sponsors the Bahrain Grand Prix and Etihad will go on to sponsor the Abu Dhabi round of the F1 calendar in 2009 as well.

In the past airlines such as BOAC (as British Airways was earlier known as), Qantas and Korean Air were prominent supporters of top flight motor sport and this is evidence enough that what one sees in F1 today is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, even our own national carrier Air India was heavily involved with motor sport, namely the sponsorship of the now defunct Himalayan Rally for over a decade and a half beginning in 1980.

Our world is shrinking and an increasing number of people are taking to the skies as their preferred modes of transport. The involvement in Formula 1 not only gets the airlines exposure to international markets but makes people aware of their existence as well. The number of airline users increases with the augment of the F1 season...

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Sponsorships put Etihad in fast lane against high-powered rivals [The Australian]
FOUR and a half years ago Etihad was billing itself as the world's youngest airline, emerging from the Middle East to take on the established players.

Now it is the world's fastest growing airline, and global marketing chief Peter Baumgartner says it has been sponsorship, not advertising, that has allowed the Abu Dhabi carrier to achieve growth of more than 40 per cent every year.

Many companies put advertising first, Baumgartner says, but the challenge of getting the name of the airline in front of millions of potential customers in dozens of markets required a special strategy.

The answer, he says, was sponsorship.

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Abu Dhabi: the Sheikh's real goal [The Times]
Manchester City’s sale to a desert prince looks like a rich man acquiring an expensive plaything. But it is actually about turning a nation that has sat in Dubai’s shadow into a world player

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Abu Dhabi’s rulers realise that it will take more than one-off projects to secure their future. They know that it must be based on trade, financial services and tourism – and that there is a place for such a global centre to develop between the European and Asian time zones. THE fly in the ointment is that they have a rival, Dubai, a fellow member of the United Arab Emirates which is only 90 minutes away up the desert highway.

“The UAE is supposed to be one federal state but, crucially, when it was created in 1971 each of the emirates retained the right to keep its natural resources and therefore its own economic path,” explained Christopher Davidson, a Middle East expert at Durham University. “Now we are beginning to see different emirates drift away from each other more and more.”

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Indeed it is in sport where the rivalry is best expressed, with a series of tit-for-tat deals to sign up the world’s best sporting properties. When Dubai became the home of the International Cricket Council, the sport’s governing body, Abu Dhabi offered English cricket $750m over 10 years to play host to its Twenty20 one-day competition. After Dubai became the venue for a top event on the men’s professional tennis tour, its rival funded a women’s championship. Aware of Dubai’s attempts to host a Formula One grand prix, Abu Dhabi bought a stake in Ferrari and secured a place on the circuit for next year.

So far the only thing that has eluded them is the hosting of a football World Cup or an Olympics, but bids for future events are understood to be in progress. THE Manchester City deal operates on a different plane. Such is the global popularity of the Premier League that at a stroke the Abu Dhabi royal family have garnered more publicity for their country than any of the Maktoums’ horseracing exploits. Indeed, it even overshadowed their own announcement last week of a $1 billion fund to make 40 movies in the next five years with Hollywood studios.

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Indeed, the “branding” of Abu Dhabi is a preoccupation in the emirate. There is already an Office of the Brand of Abu Dhabi that exists to promote its reputation abroad. While some might criticise such a naked expression of promoting the nation’s profile – Peter York, the cultural commentator, has described its buying up of cultural institutions as “like building Venice in Las Vegas” – there are some bright minds behind it.

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Re: New name for Docklands
This is now good as confirmed.
Just had a look, and the domain name www.etihadstadium.com.au has been registered by Melbourne Stadiums Limited.

(from www.austadiums.com)

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