Exciting times for Derby's main sports venues

Derby County Football Club's (DCFC) Pride Park stadium will be renamed as part of a £7m sponsorship deal, while Derbyshire County Cricket Club (DCCC) has launched a funding bid to redevelop its home ground.

Pride Park will be rebranded as iPro Stadium next month (December), following DCFC's deal with global sports drink company iPro Sport.

The £7m deal will run for 10 years and is believed to be one of the biggest independent sponsorship deals arranged by a club in Football League history.

Meanwhile, DCCC is looking to secure £1.9m worth of loans and grants as to allow a £3.6m redevelopment of its County Ground venue in the city to go ahead.

The redevelopment would include a new media centre and increase the ground's capacity from nearly 5,000 to 7,000 - strengthening the club's case to hosting a 2019 World Cup game.

The club has already been given a provisional green light for £1.7m of funding from the England and Wales Cricket Board towards the project.