Phones 4U Clarifies Manchester Arena Concerts Won't Be Affected by Company Troubles

Manchester (England) is home to perhaps the worst-named arena on the planet: the Phones 4U Arena. As you can probably guess, the building is named after a company supplying mobile phone service to the UK. Our condescension aside, the company is struggling to stay afloat after some problematic business issues and now folks in the Manchester area are concerned that the arena bearing the company's name will close, forcing cancellations of several hot concerts later this year.

The company released a statement, clarifying what most(?) people hopefully already know: naming rights is totally different than ownership.

"We would like to reassure concertgoers that the future of the mobile phone retailer Phones 4U will have no impact on forthcoming shows," reads a statement from Phones 4U to NME. "The arena will continue to be managed and operated by SMG Europe, as it has very successfully for the last 20 years. Our name will remain Phones 4U Arena for the foreseeable future."

To sum it up for Americans, it'd be like protesting against the Boston Celtics because Prudential committed fraud against military life insurance holders during 2010. The two organizations aren't necessarily connected because of the name on the arena.

Concerts still scheduled for 2014 at the Phones 4U Arena: Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Linkin Park, Kasabian and Kylie Minogue.

Phones 4U recently closed 550 locations in the UK, which may result in the loss of more than 5,500 jobs. The company blames the losses on mobile networks refusing to supply service to the company.