The five-year commercial partnership, which will start from January 1, will end Aurora Energy's 12-year relationship with the stadium.

City of Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the deal would benefit the city and entire region.

”It's a great fit for Inveresk, where the university has committed to a major transformational expansion, and where it seeks to reinvigorate tertiary education in Northern Tasmania in partnership with the state government, TasTAFE and the City of Launceston,” he said.

Alderman Gibson said his concerns were not about the name change, but about the decision-making process.

He said aldermen were not informed of the sponsorship deal until 5.23pm on Friday via email.

“From a governance perspective it is really disappointing that elected representatives were not at least briefed on the decision that was made,” he said. 

“Of course it’s operational and a commercial-in-confidence decision that staff have made and process that they have undertaken, but I find it extremely disrespectful.”

Alderman Gibson said any deals between UTAS and the City of Launceston were sensitive issues in the community.

“It’s really important that if we are, as a community, wanting to express the benefits that the University of Tasmania can bring to our city, it’s important to have the elected representatives on the same side and with the facts,” he said. “It was really embarrassing [on Saturday] morning when people are asking me questions and providing an alternate view and I didn’t even know the circumstances.”

He said those questions included: Was Aurora Energy given the opportunity to review its deal? Were other applications considered? How much was UTAS paying? What other non-cash elements were included in the deal?

Mr Dobrzynski said the dollar figure for the deal was “significant enough” for he and the mayor to be excited but it was inappropriate to release the details publically.

“There are difficult commercial circumstances in Tasmania at the moment and we find that corporate sponsorship is difficult to get so we were particularly excited to get such a good fit.”