County Championship holders Durham have announced a six-year sponsorship deal with Emirates Airline.

The airline, which previously announced a deal to sponsor the county's Twenty20 kit, will now become the club's main sponsor at Chester-le-Street.

Durham will also hand the naming rights to the Riverside ground to the business under the terms of the deal.

Geoff Cook's side are bidding to win a third straight County Championship title after 2008 and 2009 successes.

Having staged four England test matches, Durham's ambitions of competing with other provincial venues for future games rests on the redevelopment of the current Riverside site.

Chief executive David Harker sees the tie-in with the airline as one means of securing the necessary funding.

"The history of the club has always been one of ambition and the people who were part of that minor county who achieved first-class status which is a huge achievement, to becoming a test venue, to winning the championships, it's all part of the ongoing story I hope," he told BBC Look North.

"It's an important deal in terms of additional commercial revenue."

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