Sunderland chief executive Steve Walton says the club may be interested in selling the naming rights to the Stadium of Light.
A similar move at neighbours Newcastle earlier this season sparked an angry backlash from fans but Walton admits it's a strategy which the Black Cats board would be fools not to consider in the wake of last year's pre-tax losses of £26million.
"The naming rights issue is an extremely emotive thing. There have been a couple of things in that kind of area we have been looking at," Walton told the Sunderland Echo.
"We'd only do it if it worked and it didn't take anything away."
Shirt sponsor Boylesports has already declined an option to become the Stadium of Light's naming rights sponsor and the board has been forced to look elsewhere.
Chairman Niall Quinn added: "I've spoken to the chief executive of Boylesports recently, and they would prefer it if we found somebody else.
"They're also feeling the pinch, like the rest of Ireland."
But Walton thinks that Sunderland fans will understand the financial benefits of a potential deal and will not be concerned by a change to their relatively new stadium, which only opened in 1997.
"It doesn't necessarily carry the same emotion because it's a relatively new stadium, " he said.