(Your Name HERE) Stadium
June 7th, 2006
Louisiana Pacific Corp and the Tennessee Titans have just announced a $30M, 10–year deal for their stadium to be named LP Field. This brings the tally to 18 of 32 NFL teams with naming rights deals. I understand why teams are doing this, but I question whether or not the companies are getting the value they seek. Is this truly the best way for major companies to spend their dollars? Or is it some corporate form of hubris?
I have only been to one of these stadiums personally – the fabulously luxurious Reliant Stadium in Houston (Go Texans!). This beautiful, modern stadium is the product of the largest NFL naming deal - ($300M paid over 30 years) and makes even blowout games with one of the worst teams in the NFL an absolute blast for fans. But did I learn anything about Reliant Energy? Not really. I now associate Reliant with great food and very clean restrooms. This is no doubt better than my associations with fellow Houston energy company Enron, but is it relevant or, more importantly, worth $10M/year?
I assume that the desired impact is sumbliminal. Will my subconscious mind will make the connection between the company name and activities I enjoy and ultimately make me want to buy more things from them? If anyone knows the answer or has any data on the effectivity of this, please comment.
I don’t have data on the impact of stadium naming on these brands, but I have to think the money could be better invested in product innovation, customer connections, and creating remarkable experiences. Those things are all complicated to execute but they directly benefit customers and amplify positive word of mouth.
On second thought, Miracle Arena has a nice ring to it…
Other posts by Virginia.
johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy) says:
Yeah know … West End Field, where the Greenville Drive play, lacks zest. Imagine if the Drive played in Brains on Fire Ballyard????
Better yet, imagine if the Drive played at VeeDub Venue.
Yowza!
June 7th, 2006 at 10:52 amMay says:
At least you don’t live here where we have Pacific Bell… no SBC… no AT&T park where the giants play. Some of the signs aren’t changed to AT&T yet. Now that is a genius use of funds. I still call it Pac Bell park.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:51 amolivier blanchard says:
“I have to think the money could be better invested in product innovation, customer connections, and creating remarkable experiences.”
Absolutely.
Case in point: Greenville has a great new auditorium. (Well, okay… new-ish.) It could have been given any number of cool, inspiring names. It could have been named after a war hero, a famous researcher or a historical figure. It could have been named after an idea, archetype or something relevant to the Upstate.
Instead, we got “The Bi-Lo Center”.
Every time I drive by it on my way home and see its name, I think to myself “what a shame.” … And a little voice in the back of my head answers “sellouts.”
There’s a fine line between putting together a great sponsorship package for a building, a team or an event, and turning what could have been a great project into an overdone exercise in bad taste.
Something as important as a name should never be up for sale. Bleh.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:53 pmVeeDub says:
The year before I graduated, Princeton began construction to replace its ancient football stadium. They put out the word that it would be named after the first alum to come up with $25M. No one took the bait. It’s now called Princeton Stadium.
4 years later, Meg Whitman (P’77) gave the university $30M to build a badly needed new residential college. Why not just throw in the name of the football stadium as a show of appreciation to Meg? I am an eBay fanatic, so I can honestly say that naming it after someone that I find inspiring might have made me more excited about going to a game. (disclosure: I attended 4 games in 4 years)
June 9th, 2006 at 5:07 am