Stadium naming-rights deals getting pricier

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — All sports teams want bragging rights, but with the cost of a new stadium now more than $1 billion, it's naming rights they're after.

As several of the most storied franchises in sports replace their stadiums, sports marketing experts expect corporations to pay record amounts for the right to name them.

And the teams are finding ways to make the big price tags worthwhile by maximizing the amount of exposure of a company's name and logo, even integrating it into the design of the building.

"There's more value to what's being offered," said Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp Ltd., a Chicago sports marketing firm. Especially in the New York market, where several new stadiums are going up and garnering record deals, corporations are getting more exposure and visibility, he said.

Already sold for record numbers: rights to the New York Mets' new stadium, purchased by Citigroup Inc. for more than $400 million over 20 years. Next up, the Chicago Cubs, as its new owner, Sam Zell, says he wants revenue from the historic ball field that still bears the name of a former owner that pays nothing to call the stadium Wrigley Field.

But the deal expected to set naming rights records is the new football stadium for the New York Giants and New York Jets in East Rutherford.

The stadium would create a historic proposition, Ganis said: The most value ever offered, in the most expensive media market, and for two NFL franchises. He predicts the deal to go for at least $25 million to $30 million annually.

"The NFL is such a marketing juggernaut in the world of sports, that there's just no other league that's close to it," said Denver sports consultant Dean Bonham. While he wouldn't estimate the amount, he predicted it would be a landmark deal.

Naming rights prices are escalating for several reasons: public support to build stadiums is waning, player salaries are increasing and stadium construction costs are rising. Stadium costs are "out of control," said Ganis, from the $325 million it cost to build the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium in 2002 to $1.3 billion for the Giants and Jets stadium opening in 2010, a 300 percent increase.

David M. Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California, said recent deals are moving away from just advertising and branding. For example, the Oakland A's new Cisco Field would use Cisco Systems, Inc.'s technology to enhance ticketing, concessions and management of game-day operations.