Australia’s Telestra Dome, the top venue in the country for Australian Rules Football, is going to be rebranded with the name of a top Middle East airline. On March 1, 2009 the Telestra Dome will change to the Etihad Airways Dome, and the United Arab Emirates airline will also receive in-stadium signage. Terms for the 5 year deal were not disclosed.
Archive for the ‘Venue Naming Rights’ Category
Telestra Dome to become Etihad Airways Dome
Posted by ZA on October 24, 2008
Posted in Sponsorship Deals, Stadium Signage, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
20 Worst Venue Names in U.S.
Posted by ZA on July 22, 2008
With the news that the Chicago Cubs’ owner the Tribune Company just received the first round of bids from potential suitors for venerable Wrigley Field, I thought it would be a good idea to examine what are some of the worst venue names in the United States today. From the strange names to the downright stupid, we rank the top 20 worst venue names in the U.S.
Top 20 Worst Venue Names in the United States:
20. The Norva (Norfolk, Virginia)
* Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode, “Mulva!”
19. Crocodile Rock (Allentown, Pennslyvania)
* Don’t ever name your venue after a cheesy Elton John song (ever!).
18. iPayOne Center (San Diego, California)
* Dotcom venue sponsorships often don’t work.
17. Benedum Center (Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania)
* Just sounds boring.
16. Minute Maid Park (Houston, Texas)
* I liked it better when it was Enron FIeld.
15. University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
* Online college has nothing to do with City of Phoenix.
14. Petco Park (San Diego, California)
* Goofy name, but it keeps growing on me.
13. Mellon Arena (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
* Not named for Thornton Melon.
12. Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi, Texas)
* Great burgers, weird name for a stadium.
11. Littlejohn Coliseum (Clemson, South Carolina)
* Venues shouldn’t be named after Robin Hood characters.
10. Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland, Ohio)
* Corporate naming rights gone wrong.
9. Papa Johns Stadium (Louisville, Kentucky)
* Fast food companies after second worst after dotcom companies.
8. Taco Bell Arena (Boise, Idaho)
* I wonder how often they play the “Doooooooooooooong”?
7. Energy Solutions Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)
* They could jazz up the place with a great nickname like the Power Palace.
6. Dunkin Donuts Center (Providence, Rhode Island)
* Time to make the donuts.
5. Superpages.com Center (Dallas, Texas)
* Drop the .com and it goes from horrible to just plain bad.
4. Glass Bowl Stadium (Toledo, Ohio)
* The best of the worst, my favorite bad name venue.
3. Amway Center (Orlando, Florida)
* For every ticket you buy, you have to sell 6 more to friends.
2. Bagley Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (Greenville, South Carolina)
* The Fick rocks! I’m sure they were all great people, but the combination is horrendous.
1. Jobing.com Arena (Glendale, Arizona)
* The worst possible dotcom name they could put on a venue.
Posted in Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | 6 Comments »
USC will change name of Colonial Center
Posted by ZA on July 22, 2008
The University of South Carolina’s arena sponsor has changed their name as part of a corporate re-branding, therefore the name of USC’s multipurpose facility will change as well. The Colonial Center will change its name to the Colonial Life Arena, to mimic the change to Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company of their benefactor. In 2003 Colonial Life agreed to pay $5.5 million dollars over 12 years for the naming rights to the University arena.
The change is not official yet, but it is expected to be approved by the South Carolina Board of Trustees who prefer the Colonial Life Arena name more than Colonial Center.
The Colonial Life Arena opened in November 2002 under the name Carolina Center. Its primary tenants are the University of South Carolina Gamecocks’ men’s and women’s basketball teams. It also hosted the Columbia Stingers, a professional indoor football team, for one season before they folded. It cost approximately $64 million to build and has seating for 18,000 fans.
Posted in Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | 2 Comments »
New Twins ballpark will be cash cow for team
Posted by ZA on April 29, 2008
The Minnesota Twins are about to get a lot richer. That’s because it is estimated that the Twins new ballpark will help the club generate more than $1 billion dollars in additional revenue. The yet to be named new ballpark being built in Minneapolis, Minnesota is expected to be completed for the 2010 baseball season.
The reason for the cash windfall is the Twins will own all of the revenue from the new park, while they currently get very little from their lease at the HHH Metrodome. At the new park the Twins will have revenue from naming rights, concessions, in-stadium signage, suites and the 40K seats in the ballpark. The suites alone are estimated to generate $8 million per year.
The new Twins ballparkis being built by HOK Sport. The capacity is expected to be around 42,000. The new ballpark will be 4000 seats smaller than their current home in the Metrodome. It will also be a natural grass surface, the Metrodome has an artificial playing surface. And the new Twins home will not have a roof like the Metrodome, so the Twins will have to get used to playing outside in the elements. Brrr…I don’t want to be a fan a Twins fan sitting in the stands the next time they play a November World Series game.
The average ticket price in the new stadium is expected to be around $17.00, which is the most affordable average ticket price among recently built stadiums in the 4 major U.S. sports leagues. Now that’s a great way to make sure you keep fans filling up the stands…give them prices they can afford.
Drawing of new Twins ballpark (image courtesy of MLB.com)
Posted in Improve Attendance, MLB, New Venues, Stadium Construction, Tickets, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | 2 Comments »
AT&T Field will be the richest naming rights deal of all-time
Posted by ZA on April 14, 2008
The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable franchise in sports, with estimated value of $1.5 billion according to Forbes. The Cowboys are currently working on a stadium that will be the most expansive stadium ever built for one U.S. sports team. When completed the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington is expected to have cost close to $1.1 billion to build.
Now it looks the Cowboys might achieve the trifecta, by signing the richest venue naming rights deal in history. Recent articles in the Dallas Morning News & Fort Worth Star Telegram suggest that AT&T is the leader in the corporate sweepstakes to put their name on Jerry Jones stadium. The articles quote Arlington Mayor saying he’s been in contact with AT&T about the naming rights deal. And the chatter makes it sound as if a deal could already be done, even though the Cowboys and AT&T both deny it.
If AT&T Field is going to be the name of the new home for the Dallas Cowboys, then what’s it worth? In-terms of exposure, AT&T will reap a huge amount as the stadium will be a showpiece in professional sports for many years until someone builds something more grand. And the Cowboys are “America’s Team” and on the upswing, so that guarantees that numerous Cowboys games will be broadcast from AT&T Field for a national TV audience. Throw in the Cotton Bowl, a few other marquee college football games, and maybe a future BCS Bowl Game and/or Olympics, and AT&T is going to get a lot of brand exposure.
I expect that AT&T will need to pony up close to $500 million in order to get the naming rights to the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. The current richest deal is $400 million for 20 years at Citi Field, the new NY Mets stadium. But I don’t see Jerry Jones settling for edging out that deal for first place all-time, I think Jerry is going to push the bar higher than most thought imaginable. So expect an annoucement in the next few months that AT&T shelled out $500 million plus over 20 plus years for naming rights to AT&T Field.
Posted in NFL, Sports Marketing, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
Bobcats arena now called Time Warner Cable Arena
Posted by ZA on April 9, 2008
The Charlotte Bobcats landed a major deal today with Time Warner. The Bobcats home arena will change from Charlotte Bobcats Arena to the Time Warner Cable Arena. No figures were released on how much Time Warner is paying for the venue naming rights deal.
The deal also calls for the Bobcats games to be televised on Fox Sports Net, which will get them better exposure within their home state. Charlotte stated this is the first deal that included both venue naming rights and TV rights in the same package.
Aside from being the home of the Charlotte Bobcats, Time Warner Cable Arena also plays hosts to many concerts and is the home for Charlotte Checkers, a minor league hockey team.
Official site for Time Warner Cable Arena.
Posted in NBA, Sponsorship Deals, Sports Television, TV Rights Deals, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
Coors backing off venue naming rights deals
Posted by ZA on April 8, 2008
Within the past few months Coors has let two of their venue naming rights deals expire. In February they let their 10-year sponsorship of the Coors Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, California expire. That venue is now going to be sponsored by Cricket, and will called Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre going forward.
The beer maker also let a naming rights deal near their hometown expire. The Coors Amphitheatre in Englewood, Colorado is no more. As the venue is returning to its pre-Coors name, Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre.
There was no official word from Coors on why they let these two deals expire. But I don’t expect Coors to let their most notable naming rights deal end any time soon. They’ve had their name on Coors Field, the ballpark for their hometown Colorado Rockies, since the venue opened up in 1995.
Official site of Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Englewood, Colorado.
Ticketmaster site for Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, California.
Posted in MLB, Sponsorship Deals, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
Venue naming rights deals on the way out?
Posted by ZA on April 1, 2008
They would be if Dennis Kucinich was elected President. Kucinich was recently quoted in ESPN The Magazine’s MLB Preview 2008 issue as saying:
“Naming rights are one of the biggest frauds on the fans, because for the most part the public is paying for these stadiums. Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field) ought to be called Taxpayers Stadium“
Not so fast my friends…
Although I agree with Kucinich’s principle that local taxpayers shoulder much more of the costs to build a new stadium than they should (see: Washington Nationals new stadium). It doesn’t change the fact that venue naming rights deals are a lucrative way for a team to pad their bottom line. And more often than not, a team with a strong financial position is going to be a contender in their league.
The deal to rename Jacobs Field to Progressive Field is going to bring in $3.6 Million dollars per year, over the next 15 years. That’s almost $50 Million dollars in addition revenue for the team. So definitely not chump change.
So unfortunately Dennis, I don’t think any of the teams or venues are going to be calling you for advice on the matter.
Posted in MLB, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
Are Wrigley Field’s days numbered?
Posted by ZA on March 18, 2008
So just how long will it be until venerable Wrigley Field changes its name forever? I’d say that at this point it’s only a matter of time. The matter is no longer if Wrigley Field will change its name, it’s just a matter of when it will no longer be Wrigley Field. The Tribune Company, who owns both the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, is seriously exploring selling the naming rights to Wrigley. And when William Wrigley, whose family used to own the Cubs, announced recently that it is unlikely that either his family or company (Wm. Wrigley Jr Company) would pay to keep the Wrigley name on Wrigley. It essentially sealed the fate that the Wrigley Field name is bound to change soon. Because the Tribune Company wants to monetize their investment, and there’s no doubt that the Wrigley Field naming rights could bring a record haul.
The only question now is what company is going to put their name on the Cubs legendary old ballpark? McDonalds Park? Bud Field? (Not likely St. Louis fans). Somedotcom.com Stadium? Soon we’ll know. But I’ll always call it Wrigley Field.
Posted in MLB, Venue Information, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
Attention San Francisco tax payers…
Posted by ZA on March 4, 2008
Get ready to pay for some new signs at your stadium by the Bay. Because come Summer 2008 you’re going to be paying to replace the signs at Monster Park, when it becomes Candlestick Park….again. That’s right the stadium will reclaim it’s former name, and its fourth name over the past 13 years. I hope someone from the SF Parks & Recreation Department kept the old signs.
Posted in NFL, Venue Naming Rights | Leave a Comment »
