Insurance company MetLife "has inked a definitive agreement to purchase naming rights" to New Meadowlands Stadium, according to sources cited by Mark DeCambre of the N.Y. POST. The deal, first reported in June by SportsBusiness Journal, will see the one-year-old home of the NFL Giants and Jets renamed MetLife Stadium. Sources indicated that the naming-rights contract, which "could range as high as $20 million [a] year for 20 years, could be announced as early as next week in midtown Manhattan, with reps from MetLife and both teams and a number of star players in attendance." Sources added that MetLife and both teams "have been trying to hash out" a deal since last year, "but a volatile market has held up talks." MetLife acquired one of the stadium's four cornerstone partnerships three years ago. That deal was "scheduled to run until 2014 -- but will end upon the anticipated announcement of the insurance company’s upgrade to a full stadium naming rights deal" (N.Y. POST, 8/19). Newsday's Neil Best wrote on Twitter, "MetLife's naming rights for NMS, reported by SBJ back in June, won't be announced before first preseason games, but should be before opener."
