Bank of America (BOA) "decided to sponsor the
previously unnamed club level" at Ericsson Stadium as part
of the company's eight-year sponsorship extension with the
NFL Panthers "after finding a good reaction to a similar
program" at Philips Arena in Atlanta, according to John
Downey of the BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE. But BOA Exec
VP/Olympic, Sport & Event Marketing Dockery Clark said that
the company has "no plans to export the idea to its other
NFL markets," which include the Redskins and Chiefs. Clark:
"Is this a new direction for us? No. We have teams in many
of our cities ... but we don't have plans to do this
anywhere else" (BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE, 4/14 issue).
TOP CATS: Also in Charlotte, Erik Spanberg reports that
since January, the Panthers have "sewn up deals worth at
least" $15M in "additional revenue per year." The deals
include the aforementioned Bank of America extension (see
THE DAILY, 4/11), as well as a "new radio flagship ... and
in-house sales team" and a new TV partnership with Cox
Broadcasting Co. (BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE, 4/14).