Rutgers Looking To Sell Naming Rights To Football Stadium

Rutgers Taps Nelligan Sports Marketing To Help Sell Naming Rights To New Stadium

Rutgers Univ. (RU) has authorized Nelligan Sports Marketing (NSM), which owns the rights to sell RU athletics sponsorships, to "broker a 20- to 25-year contract" for naming rights to its football stadium, according to Don Muret of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. NSM Chair & CEO T.J. Nelligan "declined to say what Rutgers' deal could be worth, other than predicting the annual numbers would exceed $1.4[M], the value of the top deal among the eight NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools that have sold naming rights to their stadiums." Muret notes the Univ. of Minnesota has the largest deal, a 25-year, $35M pact with TCF Bank for its new stadium opening in '09. Wasserman Media Group Marketing President Jeff Knapple, who is selling the naming rights for the new Giants-Jets stadium, said that a deal "worth $2[M] annually is a reasonable expectation." RU last week approved a $102M renovation project for the stadium that will be complete in '09 (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/4 issue).