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[Cotuit]

The game of the name
The value of the deal for Boston arena will likely hinge on extras
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | January 21, 2005

The FleetCenter sits in the country's fifth-biggest media market and plays host to events ranging from the Democratic National Convention to the Women's Final Four. But when it comes to renaming the arena, the deal is likely to cost less than many of the other naming-rights contracts signed over the last several years, most notably the $9.3 million a year that Royal Philips Electronics is paying to place its name on Atlanta's facility, the Philips Arena.

Naming-rights deals can hinge in large part on the extras that corporations negotiate, in addition to the size of the market and the building's media exposure. The Philips deal, negotiated in 1999, comes with millions of dollars worth of television commercials and other promotions, driving up the price. In that same deal, Philips also sponsors the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers, the arena's basketball and hockey teams.

Many arenas sell the sponsorship of the teams along with the building name, which can increase prices. But the FleetCenter's principal tenants, the Bruins and the Celtics, have their own sponsorship deals separate from the arena, so the FleetCenter is selling the building's name without the teams.

All that means the total value for the FleetCenter package is likely to fall between $4 million and $5 million annually, marketing specialists say, double the $2 million a year FleetBoston Financial Corp. had been paying. It's also right in the middle of the $1 million to $9 million range for basketball and hockey arenas across the country.

The FleetCenter naming-rights deal could include perks such as traveling with the teams, shareholder meetings at the building, or golf tournaments with the athletes, FleetCenter executive said.

"We call those things opportunities you just can't buy," said Richard Krezwick, the FleetCenter's president and chief executive.

But companies can buy them -- and, according to marketing specialists, the value of all those extras could tack several million dollars onto the price of the deal.

The deal also would include signs, direct marketing to fans, and more than 20,000 tickets a year to distribute to employees, clients, and charities.

Depending on what extras the FleetCenter deal includes, the arena's final naming-rights contract could swell to as much as $6 million, or fall to $3 million, said E.J. Narcise, a principal with Team Services LLC, a Maryland sports marketing and sales company.

Other perks can include visits from the coaches to company sales meetings or entry to training camp as a preferred guest.

"The value can only increase in the FleetCenter, depending on what the potential buyer is looking for," Narcise said.

No matter what extras are included, he said, the FleetCenter starts off with a significant advantage: It is a well-known arena in a big market.The FleetCenter is changing names after Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., acquired Fleet for $48 billion last year. Bank of America decided to pay a fee, likely about $3 million, to get out of the naming-rights contract, rather than sign off on a new deal to call the building the Bank of America Center.

Fleet had agreed to pay $30 million over 15 years to put its name on the FleetCenter under a contract signed in the mid-1990s. But as more companies bid up naming rights later in the decade, the price of the FleetCenter fell below some other major sports venues, according to data compiled by IEG Sponsorship Report, a Chicago newsletter that tracks corporate sponsorships. Football stadiums tended to command the highest prices, in part because of the huge national television audiences for National Football League games.

Still, the final FleetCenter renaming deal will hinge on more than how much money an arena can get. After several black eyes in naming-rights deals -- Enron Field in Houston, CMGI Field in Foxborough, and Pro Player Stadium in Miami -- FleetCenter executives are likely to think twice before deciding on the right partner. All three companies ran into financial trouble, and their owners had to seek new naming-rights partners. Gillette Co. later replaced CMGI on the New England Patriots home, Minute Maid renamed Enron Field, and the Miami Dolphins this month changed the name of Pro Player Stadium to Dolphins Stadium.

Krezwick, the FleetCenter chief executive, has said that he does not want to sign a deal with a company that could be acquired anytime soon.

"We don't want to go through this again in a year," he said.

But, sometimes, it is hard to tell which companies will fail. Narcise, the Maryland naming-rights specialist, said that when his company negotiated the Enron deal, no one on either side of the table could have predicted its meltdown. After such lessons, he said, most new naming-rights deals include detailed agreements on what to do in the case of a bankruptcy or a name change.

FleetCenter executives now are creating a sales plan and developing a "hit list" -- about 50 to 100 companies -- that it views as potential buyers.

Most of those companies either will be based locally, have a significant regional presence, or be looking to introduce themselves to the New England market, FleetCenter executives said.

An executive at Banknorth Group, a large Maine bank, last week expressed interest in naming the arena. Krezwick said he and other FleetCenter executives still plan to go through the formal sales process.

He also has heard from several other interested companies, he said.

"I've received phone calls of interest, and any of those parties will be top prospects when we have our plan together," he said.

From The Boston Globe

[Benhamin]

Go Banknorth!

[Cotuit]

Call it the [your name here] Center
Arena lets anyone buy rights for one day, all for charity
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | February 10, 2005

Until he finds a corporate sponsor to pay millions of dollars in naming-rights fees, Richard Krezwick, the chief executive of the FleetCenter, knows just the name he'd like to see atop the iconic Boston arena: The Rollie Krezwick Center, named after his dog, a wheaten terrier.

''He's a big sports fan," Krezwick said. ''He watches hockey religiously."

Krezwick is likely to get his wish: FleetCenter executives plan to open an eBay auction today to allow Bostonians to bid on the right to name the home of the Bruins and the Celtics after themselves, their spouses, or even their pets or businesses for a single day.

The highest bidders won't get to change the giant FleetCenter sign overlooking the highway. But they will get an assortment of perks, including their names on the FleetCenter's website, its Jumbotron, and a message for callers to the automated phone system, which will say ''Thank you for calling the 'YourCenter.' They also will get four tickets to the day's game or show, and a framed photo collage and a certificate, and a ''special surprise gift package."

Already, the idea has generated interest from an assortment of sports enthusiasts, publicity hounds, and assorted hangers-on.

Television station Fox25 likely will rename the arena the FoxCenter on Friday, and it plans to broadcast its morning show from the floor that day, an arena spokesman said. On Sunday, the publisher of a Chicago sports marketing publication, Dan Migala, will pay $500 to rename the building the MigalaReportCenter.

''We just bought naming rights for a stadium," Migala boasted. ''We're big time now."

In his office, Migala said, he keeps a list of the cost of naming-rights deals, including Gillette Stadium. Now, he said, he plans to add the MigalaReportCenter onto the bottom so he can have his name beside them.

Next Wednesday will be the first day the arena will be renamed by an eBay bidder, but FleetCenter executives are in talks with a handful of other sponsors to buy days beforehand. Bidding starts at $25, and the proceeds from the naming-rights sale will go to charity.

Even if the FleetCenter naming rights get bid sky-high on eBay, they are still likely to be cheaper than the cost of corporate naming rights. Marketing specialists peg the value of the FleetCenter at more than $4 million a year -- or nearly $11,000 per day.

The FleetCenter is changing names after Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., acquired Fleet for $48 billion last year. Bank of America decided to pay a fee, likely about $3 million, to get out of the naming-rights contract, rather than sign off on a new deal to call the building the Bank of America Center.

But even Bank of America executives do not sound too upset at the idea of the eBay auction to rename the building, especially since the FleetCenter plans to donate the money.

''We wish them the best of luck," Bank of America spokesman Joe Goode said.

FleetCenter executives are in the process of searching for a new corporate sponsor. . Krezwick, the chief executive, said they plan to identify 50 to 100 companies, both national and local, that might be good fits.

They are betting that the eBay naming-rights auction will keep the building in the news. The auction will last until the FleetCenter gets a new corporate sponsor, or as long as fans remain interested, executives said.

Bidders will not be required to leave ''Center" in the building name, executives said. The arena will approve all names as long as they're ''rated G," Krezwick said.

''The soon-to-be-renamed venue will offer a world-class company a unique opportunity to build strong brand awareness and enhance their business objectives through innovative marketing and community initiatives," FleetCenter executives said in a press release.

Aspiring bidders can log onto the FleetCenter's website, www.fleetcenter.com, or eBay.

A growing number of teams are using eBay auctions to draw attention to themselves and connect with fans, said William Chipps, senior editor of IEG Sponsorship Report, a Chicago newsletter that tracks corporate sponsorships.

The Schaumburg Flyers, an Illinois baseball team, recently opened an eBay auction to let aspiring players bid on the right to play them in a game, Chipps said.

But he added, the public may get bored with such bidding.

''It's a nice publicity stunt, but if they do it numerous times, that'd get tiresome pretty quickly," he said.

From The Boston Globe

[Benhamin]

Looks like BankNorth won...

Delaware North, TD Banknorth reach agreement
Associated Press

BOSTON -- The FleetCenter has a new name.

TD Banknorth Inc. has reached an agreement to put its name on the home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, said Jim Delaney, a spokesman for Delaware North Cos., which owns the downtown Boston arena. An official announcement was expected Thursday.

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, but published reports citing anonymous sources familiar with the deal said TD Banknorth would pay $5 million to $6 million a year.

A message left for a TD Banknorth spokesman in Portland, Maine, after hours Wednesday night was not immediately returned.

The deal ends the whimsical auction of daily naming rights on eBay that resulted in the building being named -- officially, if not in actual usage -- such things as the KurtCenter, the JoeyColinAbbyCenter and the Nocturnal Nannies Arena for 24-hour periods over the past month.

One New York lawyer's bid to name the arena for New York Yankees star Derek Jeter was derailed after his friend chipped in and they agreed to name it the "Jimmy Fund Center," after the Boston-based cancer charity.

The last of those auctions, for March 13 rights, was to end Thursday morning.

The arena, which opened in 1995 as a replacement for the dear but decrepit Boston Garden, was originally to be named the Shawmut Center, for a local bank. But Shawmut was acquired by Fleet Bank before the building opened, resulting in the name FleetCenter. Fleet later merged with BankBoston to become FleetBoston, which was acquired by Bank of America last year.

Bank of America and Delaware North nearly completed a deal that would have put the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's name on the building above Boston's North Station. The bank had test-marketed prospective arena names and measured for new signs, but Bank of America spokesman Joe Goode said the deal collapsed when the company changed its marketing priorities.

The bank and Delaware North also were unable to agree to financial terms, Goode said.

Instead, Bank of America bought out the remaining six years of the 15-year, $30 million deal for a reported $3 million. That allowed the building to sell daily naming rights.

The name TD Banknorth was created just last month, when shareholders in Banknorth Group Inc. approved the $4 billion deal that gave Canada's Toronto Dominion Bank a controlling stake in the Maine bank.

[Cotuit]

Not that I mind, but I wouldn't want to pay $5million dollars a year just so everyone can go back to calling it "The Gahden."

[Cotuit]

Giant video eyed for wall of Garden

[bostonian]

I would first like to say, I am a new comer to UP Boston forum, and look forward to engaging in discussion with all of you about Boston, my home and the city I love.
Anyways, about the video screen. I saw the report on the news about the new electronic sign. There is some concern as to whether it will cause some distraction to motorists, but I don't think it will, especially since they plan on showing still videos, like a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee steaming. I'm not in to having alot of bright flashing signs all over the city, the fact that Boston has a few but well placed electronic boards is classy and well thought out. However, this will be an innovative way to greet people coming from the North coming to Boston as they drive on the Zakim. The blue lights and screen would look really impressive.

[Cotuit]

Welcome Bostonian.

I could see this becoming a new Citgo Sign-like landmark for the city. I too wouldn't like to see Boston overrun with these kinds of signs, but I think it's appropriate for a sports arena.

[Cotuit]

City rejects Garden video billboard. Objections ranged from traffic concerns to 'just plain ugly' [Boston.com]

[atlrvr]

I think that's crap.....walking down Commerical street a couple of weeks ago and across the now open space where 93 is buried, my wife commented on how dark and lifeless Boston is at night......

It's a freaking arena people! Let the damn thing have some pizzaz....besides, umm....there is going to be a ~30 story tower right there soon.....isn't that a bit more visually obvious than a 7x80' sign.