Consol Energy Inks Naming-Rights Deal For New Penguins Arena

Consol, Penguins Sign 21-Year Agreement, But Value Of The Deal Remains Undisclosed

Pennsylvania-based coal and gas company Consol Energy has signed a 21-year naming-rights deal for the Penguins' new $321M arena, which is set to open for the 2010-11 NHL season and will be branded the Consol Energy Center, according to Milan Simonich of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. Neither Consol nor the Penguins disclosed the value of the deal, but SportsCorp President Marc Ganis "guessed that the Penguins will receive at least $2[M] a year from Consol and perhaps twice that figure." Simonich writes the move "will heighten [Consol's] visibility and perhaps its name recognition." Consol President & CEO J. Brett Harvey said that his company has advertised at Penguins games, "notably as the sponsor of a giant television screen outside Mellon Arena during last season's Stanley Cup playoffs." Harvey added that the time "seemed right to deepen the partnership by buying naming rights to the new arena." The Bonham Group President Rob Vogel said that his organization "helped the Penguins prepare to evaluate corporate bidders for arena naming rights" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 12/16). In Pittsburgh, Karen Price reports based on similar naming-rights agreements, the deal "could be worth as much as $5[M] a year." Consol Energy Senior VP/External Affairs Tom Hoffman said that the company was "approached by the Penguins approximately six months ago to discuss naming rights, and the two sides became seriously involved in negotiations two months ago." The deal was "completed over the weekend." Consol's Web site indicates that the company has annual revenues of $3.8B and owns 17 coal-mining complexes in six states (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 12/16).