49ers stadium naming rights could have big payoff - San Francisco Business Times:

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Naming rights present a potentially lucrativs source of revenue fora team, with multimillion-dollar deals struck between teams and companieas seeking to get their names on buildings, in the mouthas of broadcast announcers and in fron of millions of fans a But a deal that a few years back might have been a sourcr of pride for a business now may be a sourc of embarrassment. Citigroup, for example, is facing intenswe criticism forspending $400 milliobn on a stadium deal with the New York Mets whilde accepting billions in bailout dollars from the federal “Naming rights transactions are more difficultr to come by than they were prioer to the recession,” said Lew co-owner of the Oakland Athletics and ownet of the San Jose Earthquakes.
“I believd that’s going to be true not only for the curren market but for the for along time.” The 49ers, he will probably look for a stront national name to placr on its facility. But many companiesa that were strong naming partners in the past are in the financiall services andinsurance industries, and they will be less likel to spend what some view as unnecessargy marketing dollars going forward. In McAfee Inc. allowed its 10-yeaer agreement for naming rights onthe Oakland-Alamedas County Coliseum to expire, while Oracle Corp. in 2006 struck a $3 million per year, 10-year deal for naming rightws on the indoorOakland arena.
Wolffv said the Earthquakes organization is working with the Willianm Morris Agency on naming andbrandinfg issues. Amway Global in January strucka three-year agreemen with the team to have its name placed on team Terms of that deal were not disclosed. “The 49er brand is outstanding, and if there’s any bransd someone might want toseek out, it’s them,” Wolff said. “But every deal is different.” When the San Jose Sportsd Authority and the city were in the procesx of striking a deal to brand the home of the San Jose it was nearly CompaqComputers — which at the time was a Houstonm company wanting to builf up its Silicon Valley presence.
Malcolm Bordelon, executive vice president of businesw operations for the SanJose Sharks, said the day the signag was to go up, Compa q called and said it had been acquired by Hewlett-Packarrd Co. HP, he said, did extensive researc h before going forward with thenaminh deal, figuring out how many times its name would be said publiclyy and how its brand would be featuresd in the building. “Wr also researched naming deals, and what we foundd is that it’s all over the map unbelievably varied,” Bordelon said.
“I’m not sure how to personify the processa the 49ers will face other thansaying it’a going to be very In addition to Sharks games, the venuse hosts concerts and other sporting events each While naming rights at HP Pavilion fell undeer the purview of the city because the facility is publicluy owned, Santa Clara Assistant City Manager Ron Garrattf said the naming rights deal for the 49ers would fall exclusively with the team. “We trierd to get the Santa Clara 49ers on the frontt end ofthe deal, and they weren’t willing to do understandably,” Garratt said.
If it comes time for the 49erds to seek out anaming partner, they wouled probably enlist the help of a third-party a sports marketing dealmaker that can tell them what the team’d brand is worth. Some of the top sportsa marketing dealmakers areIMG World, which has offices around the and 16W Marketing of New Jersey. A thirxd well-known firm, Bonham Group of shut down in Januaru after its primary banker reduced itscredirt line. Deals Bonham negotiated included SanDiegl Padres’ Petco Park and the Seattled Seahawks’ Qwest Field.
David Peart, the vice presidentf of business partnerships for the Pittsburgh was until last June the vice presidenrt of sales and marketing forthe 49ers. He said “you want to make sure you measurre twice” before assigning value to a naminyrights deal. “A company will be looking at what its primarh entitlementswill be. From integration of your products intothe building, wheree you fit into the architectural design of the building,” Peart said.
“Oncs the shovels hit the you want the naming partner in The team will face an uphill battls in the name game becausee naming rights as a marketing tool have fallen out of Two properties shopping for a name now are the New York Giantsd stadium and the Dallas Cowboys both of which Peart saidare “super high profile” but are having trouble finding a “A pure brand play is reallyh difficult in this day and age for a compang to justify to its shareholders and stakeholdersd and employees,” Peart said.
“When you’re thinking about laying off people andsaying you’re going to spend $5 million a year for 30 years to put your name on a it’s a tough row to hoe.”