Selling Secondary Naming Rights Can & Will Work

(sportsbusinessdaily.com)

When I met with Mayor-Elect Lloyd Winnecke last week, I brought up the idea of naming rights to fund both the renovation to Roberts Stadium (raising the floor) as well as the maintenance and upkeep for Roberts Stadium in the coming years.

Let me be perfectly clear, I am not suggesting that Roberts Stadium lose its title name. Renaming Roberts Stadium would be a disgrace to mayor Hank Roberts and I have no desire to do that. Rather, I am proposing selling naming rights to the 4 gates at Roberts Stadium and I will explain why.

When I brought up the idea of selling the naming rights to the 4 gates, Lloyd said he didn't believe it would work. He cited the fact that Roberts Stadium has had its name for over 50 years as reason to suggest that there would be no value in the naming rights to the gates.

While I do see Lloyd's point, overall, the evidence from other stadiums clearly shows that it doesn't matter how old a stadium is. All that matters, is how you design the plaza itself.

Let's take a look at a few examples of selling naming rights to stadium and arena entrance gates...

Lucas Oil Stadium- Indianapolis Colts

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2007/12/Issue-68/Facilities-Venues/Sprint-Buys-Naming-Rights-To-Gate-At-Lucas-Oil-Stadium.aspx

"Sprint Nextel has purchased the naming rights to the east gate at the Colts' new $700M Lucas Oil Stadium, set to open in August, according to Jeff Swiatek of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. The deal marks the final gate to be sold, as Sprint will join Lucas Oil, Huntington Bank and hhgregg as gate sponsors. Colts Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Tom Zupancic said that Sprint "will build a 'fan-friendly' display at the east gate to exhibit its telecommunications products" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 12/18)."

Reliant Stadium- Houston Texans

http://www.houstontexans.com/about-us/corporate-partners.html

"Comcast is the Official Triple Play Partner of the Houston Texans. Comcast is also the naming rights sponsor of the Northwest Gate.

Verizon is the Official Wireless Provider of the Houston Texans. Verizon also serves as the naming rights sponsor of the Verizon East and West Clubs at Reliant Stadium."

Cleveland Browns Stadium- Cleveland Browns

http://sports-venue.info/NFL/Cleveland_Browns_Stadium.html

"The city chose not to sell the naming rights to the stadium itself; this is very unorthodox for major American stadiums built in recent years. However, the naming rights to all four of the facility's gates were sold. The names of the gates are Cleveland Clinic Sports Health Gate located in the Southwest corner, National City Gate located in the Southeast corner, STERIS Gate located in the Northeast corner, and FirstEnergy Gate is located in the Northwest corner of the stadium."

MetroDome- Minnesota Vikings

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2009/07/Issue-214/Facilities-Venues/Vikings-Look-To-Sell-Field-Rights-Gate-Sponsorships-At-Metrodome.aspx

"The Vikings for the "first time are looking to sell field" naming rights, as well as "three gate sponsorships," at the Metrodome, according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL."

Lambeau Field- Green Bay Packers

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2002/08/12/daily29.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeau_Field#Corporate_naming_rights

"The Packers have sold naming rights to the five entrance gates. From the north going clockwise, they are: Miller Brewing (atrium gate), the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin (east gate facing Oneida Street), Mills Fleet Farm stores (southwest gate), Associated Bank (west gate and private box entrance), and Verizon (northwest gate). Miller Brewing is also a sponsor of the atrium, and has a section in one end zone called the "Miller Lite End Zone", giving away tickets in that area with various beer promotions."

Whether it's Lambeau Field, which opened the same month of the same year as Roberts Stadium, or Lucas Oil Stadium, which is only a few years old, selling naming rights to gates makes sense.

Lloyd did make one point that I agree with when he said, "it depends on what we put in there." Lloyd is absolutely right, we need to put quality tenants inside Roberts Stadium, and our gate sponsors need to make sure they have filled their gate with as much of their product as possible.

Look at what Sprint put inside their Sprint Gate at Lucas Oil Stadium...

http://www.dimin.com/?page=work_case&s=2

Although our gates at Roberts Stadium probably aren't big enough to hold something that big, we do have a fairly large area inside of each gate to place something special and creative for each of our sponsors...



Also, Lloyd is correct that we need quality and quantity at Roberts Stadium to make sponsors interested in our gates. As I've said before, we need to explore the following...

1. Indoor Football- Evansville Rage
2. Indoor Soccer
3. Minor- League Basketball
4. Inline Skating
5. Professional Lacrosse
6. USI basketball
7. Youth Sports Tournaments
8. Mid-Sized Concerts
9. Small Trade Shows
10. High School Basketball Tournaments
11. Exhibition College Basketball Games (nothing that will compete with the Ford Center)

If we pursue all 11 of these avenues, we shall have enough people passing through Roberts Stadium to entice a fair amount of sponsors to our gates. Couple these 11 ideas with the fact that we can use Roberts Stadium as an indoor trail hub for the Greenway, and we will be introducing our gate sponsors to a lot of foot traffic 365 days a year.

Do I know how much naming rights to the gates would yield? No, this will have to be determined by taking bids for the gates. That is the only way we will ever know. Do I feel like these gates can bring in a significant amount of revenue for Roberts Stadium? Yes, these gates are basically 4 "mini-buildings" inside of one building. When you come into a Roberts Stadium gate, there is plenty of room for marketers to entice you if they do their job correctly.

Mayor-Elect Lloyd Winnecke said he would investigate the idea although he's not convinced it will work. Let's hope that he sticks to his words. Next year, I hope to be standing next to Lloyd outside of the 5/3rd Gate as we announce that Roberts Stadium has been saved!

(sportsbusinessdaily.com)