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Comerica Park, Chase Field – banks foolish to use stadiums
# 30 Fair enough though it depends on what your definition of big bucks is. I believe the 10 million per yr, 30yr contract that Reliant has with Houston is the most expensive deal in place for a venue currently in use. But even 10 million is a relative small amount to company with almost 10 billion in annual revenue. And when the Mets new stadium opens next year, Citgroup will be paying 20 million a yr for 20 yrs. But again, 20 million is a drop in the bucket to a company that generated 140 billion in revenue last yr.( BTW, our vaunted Padres will be the Mets foe in their stadium opening game next April). I read an article listing the average cost and length of all the current naming rights deals at $54.6 million over 19 years or about. about $2.9 million a year. Maybe alot of money to you and I, I suspect these companies don't consider it big bucks. If they did they probably wouldn't spend that much; too much money out of their multimillion bonus pools.— September 26, 2008 11:34 a.m.
Comerica Park, Chase Field – banks foolish to use stadiums
I almost forgot the oldest example. William Wrigley renamed Cubs Field after his company in the late 20's. I remember reading once that alot of people at the time thought Wrigley really renamed it as a tribute to himself rather than his company. response to # 23 In most cases I don't think corporations can attribute severe financial stress to securing naming rights to a sports facility. In most cases, it's not that expensive, relatively speaking of course. For example, Qualcom only pays 900k per yr, Rca pays 1 million for the RCA dome, Safeco pays 2 million for Safco Field. For companies earning 100's of millions or more, this is a drop in the bucket. Qualcomm earned almost 9 billion in revenue last year. Even a for company spending 10 million a year, like Reliant ( for the Houston Texans stadium), it's a very small amount on the balance sheet. If you look at the list of names changes over the last 15 yrs or so, only a small percentage has been because companies have failed.The most obvious one is Enron Field which had nothing to do with the naming of a staduim. In most cases it was due to expiring contracts or companies merging. For example, the Phoenix Suns arena, originally America West Arena was changed to US Airways Center after their merger. One other thing I found interesting. Of the 4 major league sports in this country, hockey has the most corporate sponsored arenas. Of the 30 NHL teams, 27 have sold arena naming rights. The NFL comes in last with just 1/2 having corporate sponsorship.— September 25, 2008 11:47 p.m.
Comerica Park, Chase Field – banks foolish to use stadiums
#17 when the cards moved into the new Busch stadium in 2006, they signed a 20 year contract. Unless there is some escape clause, they may be contractually bound regardless.— September 25, 2008 2:33 p.m.
Comerica Park, Chase Field – banks foolish to use stadiums
#16, If memory serves me, the San Diego version of the rockets actually made the playoffs 1 year. But in general i don't think they were very good and not too many people showed up at the sports arena to watch. The owner sold them to somebody in Houston in either real estate or banking, I don't recall which. I do seem to remember that he sold them for alot more than he paid for them. I think there are a couple of reasons not much was done with stadium naming rights until the 90's. Before then, I don't think most large companies looked at it as worth the money unless you also owned the team. It wasn't until probably the last 15 years or so that some many events were shown on such a wide scale. You have to remember when Buss sold the rights to GWS, the Lakers were only on regionally over the air, on pay subscription tv, Prime Ticket and On-TV. So the market area was much smaller than it is today. Buss sold in prime ticket 94 and it morphed into FSN west Also there were way fewer venues then and most were older.Now there are probably 350 sports venues alone with sole naming rights. and then don't forget the non sports venues. The boom in naming rights really started in the early/mid 90's, which oddly enough coincides with the proliferation of new venues and cable and satellite tv being more readliy available to more households with alot more programing. The more potential customers that can see your name, the more inclined you are to advertises. It's all about the money.— September 25, 2008 2:30 p.m.
Comerica Park, Chase Field – banks foolish to use stadiums
supplement to # 14 By "in 1953 Anheuser-Busch wanted to pay to rename it Budweiser Stadium" I meant Busch wanted to rename it after the Cards were bought for about 4 million. They still retain the naming rights to the new stadium till 2026 even though they sold the team in the mid nineties— September 25, 2008 12:26 p.m.
Comerica Park, Chase Field – banks foolish to use stadiums
# 8 I do belive you are incorrect. Actually Jerry Buss did't start the revolution. THe Fabulous Forum was renamed The Great Western Forum in December of 1988. However in 1971, the Rich company paid for the naming rights to the Buffalo Bills new stadium which was called, oddly enough, Rich Stadium untill 1998. Also in 1971, the New England Patriots began their 2nd season in the NFL playing in their own stadium. It was Schaefer Stadium, as the naming rights had been sold to Schaefer brewery. The oldest one I can think of is Busch Stadium in St. Louis. It was originally named Sportsman's Park, but in 1953 Anheuser-Busch wanted to pay to rename it Budweiser Stadium, but the baseball commisioner said no. Then they proposed Busch Stadium after one of the company's founders, that was ok'd and that's what it was called. The name was shifted to the Busch Memorial Stadium when it opened in 1966, When it closed in 2005 the Cardinals new stadium opened in 2006 also called Busch Stadium. A little trivia on the Forum: the first Lakers game played there was against the San Diego Rockets.— September 25, 2008 9:24 a.m.