Stadium Branding = Big Bucks
April 3, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
The new Dallas Cowboys stadium is looking for a sponsor to slap their brand name on it. Based on recent deals for the New Jersey Nets new arena, Barclays Center, and the future home of the New York Mets, Citi Field, it looks like the Dallas Cowboys stadium deal could set a new record.
Take a look at this breakdown of recent stadium branding/sponsorship deals from Sports Business Journal via the Dallas Morning News:
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Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York (Barclays PLC): $400 million for 20 years
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Citi Field, Queens, New York (Citibank N.A.): $400 million for 20 years
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Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas (Reliant Energy Inc.): $310 million for 31 years
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FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland (FedEx Corp.): $205 million for 27 years
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American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas (AMR Corp.): $195 million for 30 years
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Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia (Royal Philips Electronics N.V.): $185 million for 20 years
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Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas (The Coca-Cola Co.): $178 million for 28 years
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University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona (Apollo Group Inc.): $154.5 million for 20 years
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Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina (Bank of America): $140 million for 20 years
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Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Lincoln National Corp.): $139.6 million for 20 years
Those are some big numbers, but stadium branding can mean a lot of exposure, PR and advertising for the sponsoring company. It should be interesting to see who wins the naming rights for the new Dallas Cowboys stadium given the team’s international recognition and widespread popularity.
What do you think about these branding investments by companies? Is $20 million per year too much?
Photo Source: Flickr
Tags: dallas cowboys, dallas cowboys stadium, dallas cowboys stadium sponsor, stadium sponsorship, sports branding, sports sponsorship, stadium branding
I agree with Susan, this shit has gotten out of hand with the sums of cash they command for some something ultimately doesn’t produce a product and is very nebulous when it comes to translating into a sales bump.
It will be interesting to see if the sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium is something Texas-related. It would be good branding for a company like Ford, that makes pickup trucks, but it might seems strange for an East-coast investment bank to get dirty in the Texas mud. Perhaps money isn’t the sole criteria.
Stadium naming is an unfortunate side effect of the slashing of corporate taxes during the 80s. States and Cities used to have more funds available, so they were able to dedicate more to sports and recreation on the large scale. The same way your local town provides little league and a parks dept. But with the absence of that big cash, pro sports had to turn to corporate big-shots. It’s especially annoying when a stadium that was once named for someone important, like a dead former governor, gets swapped for some airline. (as happened in NJ)
The same thing happened in Europe except they kept the stadium names (due largely to heritage). Instead, they decided to have “shirt sponsors”, and sell the rights to provide a logo on the players actual jerseys. Which is more perverse? An Orwelian-sounding stadium name (3Com park, for example) or having millions of children serve as walking ads for a foreign airline? That one’s up to you.
I blogged about this long ago:
http://www.perezfox.com/2007/04/18/no-logo-sort-of/
PS, in Europe, the entire league will have a sponsor (e.g. the Barclay’s Premiership, the Coca-Cola League) and this is similar to how Nascar has sponsors for the entire circuit, like the Nextel Cup. Golf tournaments can be sponsored by a certain company, like the Buick Invitational, but generally it’s not so intensive for Golf or Tennis, perhaps because they are very international games.
Prescott,
Have I told you I love how you write? You have an awesome way with words!
And by the way, I still call it the Brendan Byrne Arena. I refuse to call it Continental Airlines Arena! :) Actually, I just say “the Meadowlands”. It’s another way you can tell I’m from New Jersey no matter where I move. It’s like calling the beach, “the shore”. And I say “Nork”, not “New-ark”. My parents grew up in Newark, so some of the accent is ingrained in me. :)
I highly dislike areas with corporate branded names, it makes the stadiums/etc. sound so empty and sterile.
WTF happened to heritage? geez.