L.A. Coliseum Retains Wasserman To Sell Naming Rights

Coliseum Commission Taps WMG To Sell Naming Rights To L.A. Memorial Coliseum

Wasserman Media Group Marketing President Jeff Knapple has been "charged with selling" naming rights to L.A. Memorial Coliseum, according to Matthew Futterman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL.  L.A. Coliseum Commission officials are "predicting a deal valued at [$6-8M] a year," and they said that they are selling naming rights "in an effort to finance more than $100[M] in renovations." Renovation plans for the stadium call for spending "more than $100[M] during the next decade to buy a new video board and construct new bathrooms, concession areas and locker rooms."  Futterman notes naming-rights deals for college football stadiums are "rare and have yet to fetch more than $2[M] a year." But the commission is "hoping to benefit from the NCAA's looser policy toward corporate signage on the field than rules for the NFL." In the NCAA, the logo and name "can be painted on the grass, though not on the field of play" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/24).