Kroenke Inks Coca-Cola To Partnership At New Rapids Stadium

Coca-Cola Becomes First Founding- Level Sponsor Of New Rapids Stadium

Kroenke Sports Enterprises has inked Coca-Cola as the first of ten founding-level sponsors at the multipurpose soccer and youth sports complex and retail development being built in Commerce City, Colorado, according to Terry Lefton in this week’s SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Founding-level partnerships are priced in the mid-six figures annually. The facility, which will house the MLS Rapids, is scheduled to open in April ’07. The deal runs through 2021 and gives Coca-Cola “broad beverage rights” in the stadium as well as an official beverage partner designation that covers carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, bottled water, isotonics, fruit juices and energy drinks. It was brokered by L.A.-based Premier Partnerships. Notably, PepsiCo is an original MLS sponsor “that once had its [Pepsi] logo on the jerseys of the Rapids.” PepsiCo also owns naming rights to Denver’s Pepsi Center, home of the Avalanche, Nuggets, AFL Crush and NLL Mammoth, all of which are at least partially owned by Kroenke (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/27 issue). Coca-Cola will serve beverages “only in 20-ounce plastic bottles — not fountain cups — at the complex.” Meanwhile, Kroenke Sports spokesperson Brian Kitts said that Coca-Cola “is not among the companies vying for the stadium’s naming rights” (Andy Vuong, DENVER POST, 3/28).