Firm defends name of new stand

Urban-i secured the naming of the stand as part of a commercial deal with the course. But the move has been criticised by racecourse season ticket holder and Doncaster councillor Patricia Schofield, who claims the stand should have a racing-related name.

Darryl Barker, director of Urban-i said: “We have been quite disappointed that some of the criticism of the Urban-i stand has come from local councillors. We are a Doncaster-based business investing significantly in the future of one of Doncaster’s main attractions so we would have expected more support from the local political community.

“Sponsorship is a way of gaining regional and national exposure for your company, so ultimately sponsoring the grandstand is a commercial decision for us.

“The racecourse proposed naming the grandstand the Urban-i stand as part of the 10-year sponsorship package. Without this level of exposure it is perhaps naive to think that we, or any other commercial business for that matter, would invest as heavily as we have.”

He added the firm had a record of sponsoring Doncaster organisations and events, including the Barnby Dun Colts football team and the Doncaster Live free concert in the market place.

He said the company did not benefit from those but got a lot of satisfaction from supporting local activities.