Dynamos Whir Into Action
Tagged in: NBL
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Tony Bird, Taranaki Daily News
Taranaki’s top basketball team has a new name.
The Mountain Airs have evaporated and in their place the Devon Taranaki Dynamos are ready to whir into action in this year’s Dominion Finance NBL.
The new name follows the signing of a new naming rights sponsor – New Plymouth’s The Devon Hotel and Conference Centre.
Taranaki Dynamos franchise chairman Warren Osborne confirmed yesterday the naming rights deal was for one year with a right of renewal.
The Devon Hotel has been a corporate sponsor and strong supporter of the Mountain Airs for the past seven years.
“We are delighted to negotiate a deal, which we hope will grow into an association with The Devon Hotel as naming rights sponsor forward to 2009, 2010,” Osborne said.
The Taranaki Electricity Trust sponsored the Mountain Airs in last year’s league and prior to that New Plymouth businessman John Hickman had naming rights.
Devon Hotel spokesman and New Plymouth District Council Mayor Peter Tennent was taking none of the kudos for dreaming up the new team name.
“I stayed right out of the loop,” he said yesterday.
“It was left to the players and some of the folk around the Devon (Hotel) to come up with a name that reflected the oomph that comes with basketball,” he said.
Tennent will no doubt be looking to the Taranaki Dynamos to reflect their name and generate the spark that leads to the team being competitive on the court.
Tennent is a keen basketball fan and said he admired the culture of the NBL team and its army of hard working volunteers.
“There are a lot of good people involved in the basketball community and it’s great how they get out and get around the province promoting their sport.
“So it’s most appropriate that there is a few dollars from the Devon thrown in to support those efforts.”
The Devon Hotel is also a naming rights sponsor of The Devon Hotel hockey turf in New Plymouth.
The Taranaki Dynamos tip off their 2008 campaign with a game against the Wellington Saints at New Plymouth’s TSB Stadium on Wednesday, March 5.
The Dynamos have a busy start to their campaign, backing up against the Nelson Giants in New Plymouth two days later.
