Buying the naming rights for its hometown NFL team’s stadium put Sports Authority’s name in front of millions of football fans, but it also may have ultimately doomed the company. [More]
naming rights
Broncos And Mile High Stadium Take Back Naming Rights From Sports Authority
By 8.19.16
While pocket knives and parkas flew off the shelves at Sports Authority’s going out of business sales, and foosball table, desk chairs, and iMacs flew out of its former headquarters building through Craigslist ads, one of the bankrupt company’s assets didn’t sell: the naming contract for the field where the Denver Broncos play, which the chain had bought in 2011. It’s now official: the team and the stadium district have agreed to terms and effectively bought back the rights from the defunct retailer. [More]
Denver Broncos Take Back Naming Rights Contract For Their Stadium
By 8.3.16
Sports Authority is dead. The store merchandise is mostly gone, and the iMacs and foosball tables have been cleared out of the former headquarters building. There’s one important thing left, though: the naming rights to the arena where the Denver Broncos play. The remaining years on the retailer’s contract were for sale as part of the intellectual property auction, and there were no takers. Even after two deadline extensions, no one was interested, so the stadium authority and the team have taken the rights back. [More]
Sports Authority Taking Bids For Broncos Stadium Naming Rights Again
By 7.14.16
Mile High is a fantastic name for a sporting venue, so you can’t blame the people of Denver for for wanting to keep it for the stadium where the Broncos play. Instead, the entity that runs the stadium sells the naming rights to the football field, which the now-defunct sporting goods retailer Sports Authority bought in 2011. After not selling in the company’s intellectual property auction, the naming rights are for sale separately. Bids are due on Tuesday, July 19, at 3 PM Mountain time. If you’re interested. [More]
Wells Fargo Mocks Minnesota Vikings’ “Photo Bomb” Lawsuit
By 1.11.16
A few weeks back, the Minnesota Vikings sued Wells Fargo, accusing the bank of trying “photo bomb” the team’s new stadium. Wells has since fired back, calling the whole thing “far-fetched.” [More]
Minnesota Vikings Sue Wells Fargo For Attempting To “Photo Bomb” New Stadium
By 12.23.15
When you build a new multibillion-dollar stadium for an NFL franchise, you probably want to make sure that advertisers are paying for their name on or in the building, not just near it. And you probably want to ensure that those advertisers who do pay for their name on the building aren’t being overshadowed by the neighbors. Which is why the Minnesota Vikings are suing Wells Fargo. [More]
20 Years Ago, Only 1 Baseball Stadium Had A Corporate Sponsor; Now All But 9 Do
By 2.6.14
When the 1994 baseball season started, there was only a single MLB stadium whose name could be considered a result of corporate sponsorship (and the company owned the team at the time, so even that is up for debate). When the 2014 season kicks off this spring, fewer than one-third of the stadiums are without a corporate name over the gates. [More]
Cowboys Stadium Is Now AT&T Stadium
By 7.25.13
As a Philadelphia Eagles fan, it would be very easy for me to say that football’s Emperor Palpatine finally has his Death Star, but I would never stoop so low as to make a joke like that. Rather, I’ll just straight out tell you that after four seasons, Cowboys Stadium now has a corporate name with today’s announcement that Tony Romo will soon be throwing clutch interceptions at the newly renamed AT&T Stadium. [More]
Don’t Want Your Inactive Yahoo! ID Snatched Up By A Stranger? Better Reclaim It Now
By 6.20.13
Let’s say your name is Lintbrush McCheesepants. Back in the day, maybe you had the Yahoo! email address lintbrushmccheesepants@yahoo.com or simply an ID you used to access Flickr and whatnot. Now perhaps it’s fallen to the wayside in favor of Gmail, but you’ve kept it as a back-up address. You might want to stake your claim and sign in before July 15, as Yahoo! announced it’ll be freeing up inactive IDs on July 15. Cue the claim jumpers. [More]
Colleges Are Selling Bathroom Stall Naming Rights
By 2.7.12
For decades, names affixed to college bathrooms have adhered to the time-honored tradition of vindictive dudes etching names and numbers of their exes on stall walls. Now the institutions are making the bathroom naming thing part of official fundraising efforts by affixing monikers of donors to the places where some of the deepest thought on campus takes place. [More]
Kodak Wants To Wipe Its Name Off Of Academy Awards Venue
By 2.2.12
It’s generally seen as bad form for a bankrupt company like Kodak to have its name plastered on a theater as a title sponsor. Kodak, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last month, has realized it would have a lot more cash to burn if it could wriggle out of a $75 million, 20-year commitment to slap its name on the Kodak Theatre, which hosts the Academy awards. [More]
Chicago To Sell Naming Rights To Bus Routes, Train Lines, Everything It Can
By 11.11.10
Next spring, the commuters of Chicago may no longer be taking the Red Line to Addison if they want to catch a Cubs game. If the Chicago Transit Authority has its way, they could be riding on McDonald’s Express and getting off at Costco Station. [More]
Chicago Seeks Corporate Sponsors For Public Transit
By 2.13.10
Imagine giving public transit directions to your urban home in the future. “Oh, yeah, you take the Target Red Line, transfer at Comcast Station to the Apple Gray Line headed Fox Sports Westbound, and finally get off at Taco Bell Station.” Seem crazy? Well, you have to name transit stations something, and both Metra and the Chicago Transit Authority are exploring the idea of selling naming rights to stations. They’re not the first city to do this. [More]
Want Your Name On A Building? Now It Costs Less
By 10.11.09
Have you always dreamed of having your name on a building to honor your philanthropy and general awesomeness, but just didn’t have the cash on hand? You may be in luck: the threshold for building or wing names at colleges, hospitals, and other nonprofits is falling as charitable giving slumps. If you have money, now may be the best time for immortality.
Hey Nets Fans, Welcome To The Izod Arena?
By 10.5.07
The New Jersey Nets have located their perfect sponsor after what was said to be a rigorous search. Izod!
Madison Square Garden Theater Naming Rights Bought By WaMu
By 5.17.07
Before you sports fans have a heart attack, it’s not all of Madison Square Garden that’s being renamed—just the theater inside where things like “Sesame Street Live” and the above TV On The Radio concert are performed. Washington Mutual has bought the naming rights to the 5,600 seat theater and will be renaming it “The WaMu Theater,” which brings up a larger question.
