Hornets Hire Octagon For New Orleans Arena Naming-Rights Deal

New Orleans Arena Is Octagon's First Domestic Naming-Rights Assignment

Octagon has "won an agency shootout" to sell naming rights for the nine-year-old New Orleans arena, home to the Hornets and 2013 NCAA Women's Final Four, according to Terry Lefton in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Octagon "won a competition against IMG and other agencies because arena ownership was looking for a company with global reach." This is Octagon's "first domestic naming-rights assignment." Octagon Senior VP/Athlete Marketing Tom George said, "The economic timing may not be the best but with [G] Chris Paul, [F] David West and the rest of the Hornets, it is clearly the best time in franchise history to be taking this property to the market" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/15 issue). George: "Selling naming rights is always difficult. It's a big ticket, and you have to find the right people. We just had a little sales meeting where we talked about this, and I would much rather go into this proposition with a great property and a bad market than a bad property in a good market." Hornets VP/Corporate Partnerships Tom Ward said that Octagon's int'l track record "made it an attractive partner." Ward: "Coming off the incredible success we had last season on and off the court, we feel our product is as prime time right now, that it's at its most marketable even though the economy might not be at its best right now" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 12/16).