Toyota Inks Parking Garage Naming-Rights Deal With Grizzlies

Toyota Has Replaced Ford As FedExForum's New Garage Sponsor

A deal was "reached recently between the Grizzlies, Toyota and the Memphis Area Toyota Dealers to replace Ford as the garage sponsor" at FedExForum, according to Marlon Morgan of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. The Memphis Area Ford Dealers, which held the garage's naming rights since it opened in '04, "decided not to renew their contract, which expired last fall." The blue Ford logo came down last Thursday and "up went new red signs for what's now the Toyota Parking Garage." Toyota was the "second corporate sponsor to sign on with the Grizzlies when they arrived in 2001, behind FedEx." The garage deal is a "three-year extension on Toyota's existing contract that includes being the official truck of the Grizzlies and FedExForum, sponsor of the Toyota Pickup Window at the box office, arena signage and television advertising." Grizzlies President of Business Operations Greg Campbell said that terms of the garage naming-rights deal are "similar to the $700,000 per year paid by Ford." Chuck Hutton Toyota GM Chuck Palmore said that the deal with the Grizzlies "had nothing to do with Toyota's" recent safety issues. Morgan notes the team "hastily put up the new signs" because March "will be a particularly busy month with the University of Memphis concluding its season, the Grizzlies playing eight home games, concerts featuring George Strait and Reba McEntire, and Eric Clapton, along with the NCAA women's basketball tournament regional" at FedExForum (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 2/24).