The Broncos in a bankruptcy court filing said that Sports Authority "can't sell or transfer its Mile High Stadium naming rights or its team sponsorship without written consent," according to Alicia Wallace of the DENVER POST. The team and the Denver Metropolitan Football Stadium District are "staking their claims on a highly valuable asset that they say shouldn't be up for grabs in the bankrupt retailer's Chapter 11 proceedings." But IP property lawyers and retail veterans said that where the contracts land "could be up to the discretion of the court." The stadium district, which owns the stadium, last week "filed an objection to the potential transfer of the naming-rights agreement and asked for the ability to veto a deal based on specific criteria, including violation of NFL policies." The Broncos' objection was "more strongly worded than the one filed at the end of April, when the team and stadium manager took issue with Sports Authority's claim that anyone buying the sponsorship deal would need to pay" only $1.053M to "'cure' the contract." Court records show that Sports Authority owes the Broncos $36M through '35 "for its sponsorship pact, which includes elements of the stadium naming-rights deal." While the Broncos and stadium district claim that the contract's terms are "lines in the sand, Sports Authority is placing the naming rights and sponsorship contracts under the broader umbrella of intellectual property" (DENVERPOST.com, 5/16).
WHO CAN IT BE? CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin said a “sale of store locations" by Sports Authority is reportedly "not going all that well." The company "did get some bids from rivals Dick’s Sporting Goods and Modell’s, but the bids were considered disappointing and involved fewer stores than Sports Authority was hoping to sell” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 5/16).
