Wembley's name for sale

By BBC Sport Online's Adrian Harte

As sport comes up with new ways of milking more money from the cash cow and extracting extra eggs from the golden goose, the vogue is for selling naming rights for stadiums.

It has emerged that the new Wembley stadium could receive a £120m cash boost through the sale of the stadium's name to a major company.

In the United States, the trend is almost universal, with Candlestick Park in San Francisco becoming 3Com Park and Denver's Mile High stadium transforming into Invesco field.

Closer to home, Bolton Wanderers now play at the Reebok stadium and Wigan rugby league side are at home at the JJB stadium.

So which megabucks multinational is going to turn up at Wembley with a big cheque and a shiny plaque for the stadium wall?

The obvious candidates immediately spring to mind:

• Railtrack - been waiting since 1966 but every time success comes into view it gets derailed

• Wonderbra - provides support, cups and plenty up front

• Disney - a Mickey Mouse team or a place where dreams come true?

But given the escalating costs of the stop-go project, the Wembley national stadium committee could kill two birds with one stone and approach Lego.

3Com Park used to Candlestick Park

In exchange for becoming the title sponsor, the Danish toy-makers could donate several million of their plastic bricks and employ a team of ankle-biters as constructors.

Twin towers, arches and athletics tracks could be added or removed as the occasion demanded.

As Sweden has provided England with a manager with a perfect winning record in Sven Goran Eriksson, why not offer a Swedish company the chance to name the stadium?

After all, apart from football, why else does anyone go to Wembley except to be dragged around Ikea on a Saturday by your significant other looking at Billy bookcases?

The cheap, clean and comfortable Ikea ethos would certainly be a radical departure from the Wembley of old.

And the resourceful Swedes might even be generous enough to deliver a flat-packed new stadium.

Bolton are at home at the Reebok stadium

Surrendering Wembley's name to a foreign company would probably be a step too far for most little Englanders, so perhaps the French Connection (United Kingdom) stadium would be a sensible compromise.

After all, the idea of a national stadium gained impetus with the success of the Stade de France and it is hoped that the new stadium will be the scene of England's own success.

With Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Gerard Houllier and Arsene Wenger, English football already has a pronounced French connection.

And as a name, FCUK the National Stadium certainly sums up most people's attitude to the Wembley imbroglio.