SELLING the naming rights for the Sixways Stadium is on Gus Mackay’s agenda as he looks to kick-start his tenure as Worcester Warriors’ managing director.

Mackay says he has been “blown away” by the 11,499-capacity ground since his arrival at Warriors earlier this month.

But the 50-year-old from Malvern insists he is keen to look “outside the box” to find ways to raise the venue’s profile and be “one step ahead” of other stadiums.

As part of his plans Mackay revealed he would be looking to get a company to attach their name to Warriors’ home.

“It would be good to get someone’s name associated with us which then raises the profile,” Mackay said.

“Whether that is a local, national or international company we’ll see. You don’t know what is out there.

“Those are discussions we will put into motion fairly soon and go out to market and see what we can find.”

Mackay has taken over from departing chief executive Jim O’Toole and been given the responsibility of strengthening the club’s commercial arm.

As well as playing international cricket for Zimbabwe he has had 15 years of experience working in sport.

He was chief executive of Sussex from 2006 until 2008, managing director of cricket at Surrey from 2008 until 2010 and from 2011 he was chief executive officer at rugby league side London Broncos before leaving three years ago.

Mackay said he was now focused on making the most of Warriors’ artificial surface which was installed last summer.

“We have a wonderful stadium here,” he said. “I have been blown away by what we have in terms of the location and the facilities.

“I think what the players have is second to none and some of the best I have seen in professional sport.

“We have got some foundations and good building blocks to be able to move things forward off the field.”

Multi-platinum recording artist Bryan Adams will be performing on the pitch on Friday, July 14.

Mackay continued: “We need to look at what other venues do around the world.

“Concerts are a big thing so having the advantage of the artificial pitch does lend itself to being a bit more creative.

“Obviously the priority is the rugby and the players will come back on Monday to train on it.

“But what else can be done? I have not got the immediate answers now but you have got an artificial pitch and have got to maximise that opportunity.”

Asked whether Sixways was underperforming Mackay said: “If you look at it financially you would probably say ‘Yes’ but if you look at it from an operational point of view it is not underperforming in terms of what we deliver.

“But we want to deliver more. It is just the location where we are probably missing a trick there.

“We get a lot of local businesses but need to get more from other areas.”

Mackay added: “(We need to) get the Sixways brand and the Warriors brand out and away from just being Worcestershire-based so people who are wanting to use our venue know about us.

"They might be a Manchester or Bristol-based company that need venues.

“We have got space so have just get to think outside the box and try to be one step ahead of other local venues.”