Sponsors Excited About Activation Around Cowboys Stadium

AT&T Sponsorship Includes A Logo On The Video Board Hanging Over The Field

Corporate sponsors and advertisers are vying to “connect their brands with the Cowboys” as the team opens its new $1.2B stadium this season, "even if it means moving dollars from other sports in town,” according to Mitchell Schnurman of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The Cowboys have “auctioned off sponsorship rights to party decks, clubs, even bars at the stadium,” pulling in companies “as diverse as Ford, American Airlines and Patron tequila.” Miller Lite has a "field-level club that the players run through, and Miller's name and logo are integrated throughout the space." Ford has a "party deck with a fountain that showers water when the team scores," while AT&T "has the large party decks behind the end zones" and a logo on the video board hanging over the field. Dr Pepper and Pepsi "have big party spaces, too," and Absolut, Maker's Mark and Patron all sponsor bars inside the stadium. Del Frisco's steak house co-Founder Dee Lincoln "has a wine-tasting room," and Sony's name is "affixed to TVs throughout." Ft. Worth-based Fresherized Foods planned to "pass out 2-ounce samples" of its Wholly Guacamole at last night's game and "tout its new status as the team's official guacamole." The Cowboys also are "selling digital ads rather than static signs," as the stadium "has 3,000 TV monitors, LED loops around the inside of the bowl and a handful of oversize video screens for advertising." Cowboys Exec VP and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Jerry Jones Jr.: "These are long-term decisions, and when companies are cutting back, they want to maximize their leverage." Schnurman noted "some of the Cowboys' gains are coming at the expense of other sports, from baseball to hockey to local 10K runs." Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said, "We've lost some (corporate) deals that the Cowboys picked up. I've been told by clients that they can't afford to do them both. But others said they'd do our deal because they could afford it" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 9/20).

NEW SPONSOR FEATURES AT STADIUM: In Dallas, Mede Nix reports fans yesterday were "greeted with a few new additions" at the stadium, such as the "huge AT&T logos on the ends of the large and small video boards hung from the roof." Miller Lite's west end zone party area has "two huge video boards showing nothing but Miller Lite ads," and Miller Lite "Rhythm and Blue Dancers" also "danced on pedestals surrounding columns on the second level of the area." Ford also had "new vehicles parked next to stairwells" near its party deck (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/21).

WAITING FOR THE BIGGEST DEAL TO COME THROUGH: CNBC's Darren Rovell noted there are signs around Cowboys Stadium "that are just blank, and the reason for that is they have not sold the naming rights sponsor." It was speculated that the naming rights could attract offers of $300-400M. Rovell: "There is no sponsor and now it just seems like they're waiting for one. They're calling it Cowboys Stadium, but they're not putting logos where you would think there would be logos. They're just going to wait" ("Power Lunch," CNBC, 9/18).