Article in this morning's Star-Ledger: http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/115147647089770.xml&coll=1 Giants-Jets: Stadium's name might fetch $25M Wednesday, June 28, 2006 BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN Star-Ledger Staff The Giants and Jets will seek a deal worth as much as $25 million a year for the naming rights on their new shared stadium in the Meadowlands, according to two industry executives with direct knowledge of the financial plans for the facility. Such a deal would be the largest stadium sponsorship in the world and serve as a major step forward in financing what is expected to be a $1 billion project. Reliant Stadium in Houston is the current standard-bearer in the U.S. market with a $10 million-a-year naming rights deal. In Europe, Emirates Airlines is paying $12 million a year to put its name on a soccer stadium in London. Industry experts said yesterday that the Giants and Jets were right to assume their building would produce the most valuable naming rights deal ever. "If there is a market at that level then it would have to be at this stadium because of the uniqueness of the facility," said Frank Vuono, principal at 16W Marketing in Lyndhurst, which made a pitch to the football teams to sell the naming rights but lost. "You're talking about two NFL teams in the same facility in the biggest market in the country." Alice McGillion, a spokesman for the Giants and Jets stadium venture, denied the teams had pegged the potential value of the naming rights deal. "We're just starting the process of selecting a naming rights partner, and we have never publicly stated what we think the value of those rights are," she said. "Anybody who is talking about the figure is speaking in ignorance." Last week the football teams selected Los Angeles-based Wasserman Media to handle the naming rights deal. Jeff Knapple, president of Wasserman Media's marketing division, has played a key role in the naming rights deals for Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The football teams can also sell the naming rights to the entire Meadowlands sports complex, though it is too early to tell whether those naming rights would be included in a deal to put a corporate name on the stadium. Hearings on the proposed stadium have been scheduled for next month. The teams want to break ground on the stadium next spring and complete the project for the 2010 season.
Why can't they sell naming rights to the stadium the teams are sharing now? I can't believe the Jets organization is so testicle-less that they stomached playing in GIANTS STADIUM for 22 years. When the Jets moved there in 1984 they should have insisted on a name change. Gutless.
Having to sell naming rights shows you what pro sports is really all about any more in the eyes of owners. The only reason I think it makes sense in this case is because it's hard to think of anything that would equally represent both teams. Either way, the Jets should have their own stadium.
This line was news to me. The football teams can also sell the naming rights to the entire Meadowlands sports complex, though it is too early to tell whether those naming rights would be included in a deal to put a corporate name on the stadium. I thought the name was going to be Xanadu. It would be sweet if they can get $25 mill for the stadium and then some more cash for the rest of the complex. The more they get, the better chance of no PSLs for us little guys in the upper decks (yeah right). Gotta love the new era of sports business; $$$$
The biggest market team in the US..the Yankees...who has the naming rights to their stadium-that should tell you something-Steinbrenner isnt even selling the name
I go with baamf on this one. I'm for any extra revenue the Jets can bring in if it goes toward helping keep my ticket prices down. Ultimately, it's what everyone should want who ever attends a game in person. Even if you're a non-season ticketholder, you still don't want the face value to go up because it means you'll have to pay the scalper more for your seat. As far as bitching about the Jets not having their own stadium, it's time for all of us to get over it. This is so over it isn't even funny... ancient history already. This was the best overall option by the Jets, given all the alternatives, and I applaud the decision and the speed in which the deal was made. Woody will be regarded as having made the right choices for the future of this team long after his time is done. There were no other viable options on the table. The only one that even came close was the WSS, and NY buried that idea pronto. So no one can blame Woody for not trying to get that done... it just wasn't workable once it got into the hands of the f*cked up NY politicians. The NY voters who put these people in office should blame themselves on that one, not Woody Johnson.
I agree. I have no problems with the Jets sharing a stadium so long as the stadium is not named after one of the teams.
To claify my post- the first "they" refers to the powers that be the past 22 years. I know the Jets don't own the stadium.
Who has that kind of money? Maybe Howard Stern Stadium at the Meadowlands. That would beat the hell out of his stupid rest stop.
