What's in a name: Cardinals Stadium seeks a partner

Arizona Cardinals Stadium, a $355 million, multi-purpose, high tech athletic entertainment facility, is considered among the top ten in the world. When it officially opened on September 10 it sported all the bells and whistles, except one: a corporate name and a lucrative naming rights contract. Naming rights are key to the success of a franchise, say ASU experts, because they provide critical cash, good will and branding opportunities. Observers are wondering: are the Cardinals asking too much money (an undisclosed amount) for naming rights; are negotiations stuck on the Cardinals negative image; is the Glendale stadium too remote; or are the Cardinals just too distracted with operational issues?

Even the Almighty might be awed standing on the lush high tech, roll-out grass field (the only one in North America) of the spanking new, multi-purpose Arizona Cardinals Stadium. Peering up at a dual-panel retractable roof that filters light in and heat out, and opens to a wide swath of heaven, the view is divine. Standing on the site of an old cotton farm, this $355 million sports temple dominates the low Glendale landscape off Loop 101.

Its extraterrestrial, shiny saucer-like shape is head-turning. Harmonized vertical slots emit splashes of light at night. This is what an imaginative soul might have expected to find out in the Roswell, New Mexico desert 59 years go. Inside the creature comforts are other-worldly, with wide-body individual seating blended in team colors, spacious aisles that are wide enough for casual shopping, and enough well-placed and diverse concessions stands to please any palate.

And if that doesn't wow you, check out the remarkable array of upcoming games and events: a full NFL lineup (possibly a playoff game or two if the Cardinals live up to billing), the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the first-ever college football championship (to be played here every four years), the '08 Super Bowl (with the potential of repeating every four to six years), the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Western Regional Tournament, possibly the 2012 NCAA men's basketball Final Four tourney, and World Cup soccer.

The no-name stadium

Sports nirvana, right? You'd think so. You might assume, as others have, that Cardinals Stadium has it all. Business Week declared it among the top ten sports facilities on the planet. Yet the stadium lacks something as fundamental these days to the finance and marketing of a successful pro-football franchise as mustard is to a grilled sausage: a corporate name — a multi-million dollar, multi-year moniker that would pump good will and key branding opportunities as well as cash into the organization.

But the clear vision that figured into the facility's design and construction appears to be missing in the search for a corporate partner, causing many to wonder aloud on radio talk shows and in letters to the editor. Are the Cardinals and its long-term owners, the Bidwill family, asking too much money for naming rights? Is the negative community and corporate image a problem as the organization markets its football franchise to potential naming rights partners?

Is Cardinals Stadium simply too remote, an isolated site whose growth potential hasn't caught up with reality? Or are the Cardinals distracted, perhaps paralyzed, with operational issues, having missed the key naming rights media buzz of a ground-breaking and opening day that is worth big money to a sponsor? The naming rights opportunity certainly wasn't lost on the Pink Taco, a Scottsdale restaurant named after an off-color Mexican slang term.

The Morton family, which also owns the Hard Rock Caf and Morton's Steakhouses, offered the Cardinals $30 million over ten years to dub the facility "Pink Taco Stadium." Cardinals' media relations director Mark Dalton greeted the publicity stunt tender with, "There is zero chance of this happening."

Still, the Pink Taco offer illustrates the sex appeal of naming rights. How could an upstart eatery got the marketing drop on an established 108-year-old professional football club that started out on Chicago's street-smart Irish South Side with a box of bargain maroon jerseys that were so faded in color they prompted then-owner Chris O'Brien to assert, "That's not maroon; it's Cardinal red."

While the City of Glendale is now on the sporting world map, it remains anonymous when it comes to corporate naming rights. In Houston, a town with major city name recognition, Reliant Energy has pledged $10 million-a-year for 32 years to name the stadium where the Houston Texans play. Not only is Cardinals Stadium corporately nameless, it is located just two football fields away from another nameless venue.

Glendale Arena, home to the Phoenix Coyotes, has been soliciting a naming rights partner since it opened in 2003. The Cardinals are clearly an exception in a league where six of the last seven NFL stadiums were named on opening — welcome annual cash flow supplement insured. Seattle Seahawks Stadium opened four years ago sans a corporate partner, but became Qwest Field in 2004.

Multifaceted opportunity

"There are multiple benefits to naming a sports facility early on, not the least of which is revenue," says Ray Artigue, the former senior vice president of the Phoenix Suns who is now a professor of practice in the marketing department at the W. P. Carey School of Business and director of the W. P. Carey MBA Sports Business Program. "Corporate naming gives a facility personality and character and allows consumers to identify with the name, breathing life into a facility in terms of marketing potential."

"Cardinals Stadium is one of the best sports marketing opportunities in the country and it's on the table," adds Michael Mokwa, chairman of the W. P. Carey School's marketing department and academic advisor to the sports business program.

"This is a major opportunity. When you consider all the dimensions that may accompany naming rights of Cardinal Stadium, it's mind-boggling for the causal sports observer. At the right terms, venue and price, naming rights can be a deal these days. Corporations are paying upwards of $2.5 million for a 30 second television commercial during the Super Bowl, on ads that people will likely forget the following day or shortly after."

In contrast, a naming rights contract that runs a range of ten to 30 years, notes marketing professor James Ward, offers sponsors valuable and visible identity, additional interior, exterior scoreboard and street signage, critical media buys, Internet links, luxury and hospitality suites for corporate entertainment and networking, franchise mailing list access and many other benefits.

The Cardinals brass, meanwhile, insist they are aggressively pursuing a naming sponsor, an exercise complicated by the fact that Phoenix has few major corporate regional offices and only four Fortune 500 headquarters. Among them are Phelps Dodge and Allied Waste, firms with limited potential for valuable franchise-corporate cross promotions. Imagine handing ticket holders copper gutters or garbage bags.

The field of logical local suitors is limited, and other sports franchises have already cut the list down. The Arizona Diamondbacks have already struck a deal with JPMorgan Chase, which acquired the baseball team's original naming partner, Bank One. And the Phoenix Suns landed U.S. Airways, which merged with America West Airlines — the original naming sponsor for the team's downtown arena. The Cardinals marketing department declined comment on this story, citing preoccupation with Opening Day against San Francisco.

The value of a good name

So what's in a corporate name? Plenty, if you're counting the company beans. With the numbing design and construction costs of modern sports facilities, gone are the days of landmark venues with names like Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, and Soldier Field. ESPN.com reports that average naming rights for new professional sports stadiums and arenas range from $2 to $7 million a year.

Speculation pegs the Cardinals' asking price at $7-to-$8 million, but observers say the team may only get a portion of that. "It's a surprise that the corporate naming of Cardinals Stadium is taking so long," says John Eaton, a clinical associate professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School.

"When you look closely at the stadium's potential beyond the Cardinals, all the national and worldwide media exposure, it doesn't get much bigger than that. I assume the Cardinals' front office fully appreciates this fact, and is moving cautiously to find the right partner who is willing to pay the price for this potential and can offer the most in lucrative cross-promotions."

Selecting the right naming rights partner is key for both the franchise and the corporation, stresses marketing professor Beth Walker. "From the Cardinals point of view, the team needs a partner that's a good fit and has a positive association with the public. These public perceptions are very powerful and have huge financial implications.

The team must be careful about a naming partner," Walker says. "A sponsor, in return, hopes that all the positive team energy that is generated in public transfers to its brand. A winning tradition is not as important as passion — an emotional team connection with the community and the fans." Naming rights, Mokwa notes, "are multidimensional with tentacles going in many directions that allow a smart business organization and a good sports franchise to create a strong partnership and powerful identity.

My favorite word about managing branding is resonance which means building a high level of emotional impact around a brand that can move people to action. Naming rights for the right building with the right organization has an incredible resonance potential with very broad reach." The conservative Cardinals, concedes Mokwa, will address the naming rights issue carefully. "This is a big decision for a corporation, the team and the league," he says, noting it will be monitored and maybe facilitated by the NFL but is not subject to the league's revenue-sharing accord.

"The opportunity to name a stadium doesn't come along often in the NFL. It's a long-term corporate marriage that ironically will last longer than many individual marriages." The bottom line for corporations in the naming rights game, adds Artigue, is not bragging rights, but a return on investment — an ROI that comes through positive local and national exposure and networking that can be linked directly to an increase in revenues.

In contrast to the Pink Taco proposition, naming rights partners like FedEx (Washington Redskins) and Gillette (New England Patriots) are exceptional sponsors. As Ward observes: "Imagine FedEx's marketing potential with the Redskins, (given the corporation's mantra): 'When it absolutely, positively has to be there.' What an incredible football analogy: speed, teamwork, and delivering a package on time and to the right place!"

Gillette, with world headquarters in Boston, is an example of a major sponsor, he adds, that offers a product that appeals to the widest demographic — men and women of all ages. "People are intensely local about their teams," Artigue adds, "and they are hesitant to see a corporate name attached to their stadium unless they have a connection to it." With opening day behind the Cardinals, the game clock on naming rights is ticking.

Corporations are looking for ever more finely targeted audiences, Ward says, rather than the broad demographics of ticket holders and television viewers. Still, Eaton says, the Cardinals offer great corporate and community upside. "Public expectations for the Cardinals over the years have been lowered to the point that it's not going to take much to turn this around," Eaton adds.

"There is so much potential for improvement in both performance and community good will. I think it will happen quickly. Someone will recognize this opportunity and catch up with the Cardinals' expectations. They will share in the vision and put their name on the front of the building."

Bottom Line:

• Arizona Cardinals Stadium, a $355 million, multi-purpose, high tech sports facility — considered among the top ten in the world — officially opened Sunday, September 10 with all the bells and whistles, except one: a corporate name and a lucrative naming rights contract.
• Average naming rights contracts for new professional sports stadiums and arenas range from $2 million to $7 million.
• Observers are wondering: are the Cardinals asking too much money (an undisclosed amount) for naming rights; are negotiations stuck on the Cardinals negative image; is the Glendale stadium too remote; or are the Cardinals just too distracted with operational issues?
• Naming rights are multidimensional and key to the success of a franchise, say ASU experts, because they provide critical cash, good will and branding opportunities.
• Corporate sponsors also benefit on the bottom line from media exposure and Internet links, networking, signage, valuable cross promotions and community good will.