The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) will be a sponsor at the stadium of FC Emmen. The current stadium name The old lake dike does not change.
In addition, NAM will sponsor the part of the Beweegcampus next to the stadium that is used by the first selection of FC Emmen. The Exercise Campus offers the club facilities that are not available in the stadium. According to the club, the sponsorship of the NAM FC Emmen will further professionalize and contribute to the fitness of the selection.
With the sponsorship, NAM wants to emphasize and strengthen the bond with Southeast Drenthe and give substance to its social role. The company was already a sponsor of FC Emmen Naoberschap (the social foundation of FC Emmen, ed.) and has been supporting the annual G-sports day in the stadium for several seasons.
FC Emmen is happy with the new stadium sponsor. “We are of course very happy that we have a new stadium sponsor. De Oude Meerdijk remains De Oude Meerdijk. It is clear that NAM wants to give something back to this region, to which they owe a lot. This sponsorship ensures that we as professional club can further professionalize.”
Maarten Veldhuizen, Director of Corporate & Community Relations at NAM, says he would like to strengthen the connection with the region. “Southeast Drenthe is the birthplace of NAM; this is also where we ‘get away’. For more than 75 years we have also been supplying energy from Southeast Drenthe to the whole of the Netherlands. We have been a literal source of energy for a long time and experience that FC Emmen this is also for many supporters. We will be active in this region for years to come and hope to support FC Emmen in their ambition to become and remain a stable Eredivisie club by sponsoring the stadium.”
NAM succeeds Rabobank, which has been sponsoring the stadium since January 2018.
The NAM was founded in 1947 by Shell and Esso, after a large oil field was discovered four years earlier at Schoonebeek. Both companies want to jointly invest in a new oil exploration and production company. The head office has been in Assen since 1967.
After NAM stopped oil extraction in Schoonebeek in 1995, oil extraction was resumed in 2011. New techniques have made it financially responsible to pump up more oil. In the latest plans, NAM wants to inject the waste water released during the extraction of the oil into an empty gas field near the village. There are many objections to this.