As the outlines of London’s £500m Olympic stadium begin to take shape in the city’s East End, bean counters aren’t the only ones wondering how the venue can recoup at least some of its huge construction cost. With most of the 2012 London Games’ estimated £9.4bn budget set to come from taxpayers, authorities are under pressure to save where they can. One option is auctioning off naming rights.

Olympic rules prevent sponsors from putting their names on buildings during the games themselves. Afterwards, however, all bets are off. In 2002 Telstra, the Australian telecommunications group, agreed to pay an estimated A$10m a year to name Sydney’s Olympic stadium and a dome in Melbourne. Several potential bidders have expressed interest in draping their name and logo around the distinctive bird’s nest Olympic stadium in Beijing.