The Saints and Pelicans have signed an eight-year deal with Louisiana-based Ochsner Health System for naming rights to their combined practice facilities in Metairie, La. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Ochsner Sports Performance Center is the only training complex in pro sports that houses both NFL and NBA teams, plus administrative offices. Ochsner is an existing sponsor of both teams, and the health care provider features the Gayle & Tom Benson Cancer Center, founded in '10 and named for the clubs’ owners. Saints' training camp starts tomorrow. The deal was done in-house by Saints and Pelicans Senior VP/Sales Mike Stanfield, Exec Dir of Corporate Partnership Sales Matt Webb and Partnership Marketing Coordinator Megan Sullivan Milazzo. The facilities had no corporate names previously. For Ochsner, buying naming rights expands a relationship that began about 10 years ago when the hospital first signed on as a sponsor of both teams. Stanfield said that around six months ago, the Saints and Pelicans approached Ochsner about extending its deal to include naming rights. Stanfield said the agreement reflects common goals for spreading the message about cancer awareness and overall health and fitness among the 7.5 million residents in a four-state region that make up the Saints’ and Pelicans’ market.
TELL THEM WHAT THEY'VE WON! The Ochsner Sports Performance Center brand is attached to the multiple buildings housing the Saints and Pelicans administration, as well as the outdoor football practice fields and indoor basketball courts. The main football facility, measuring 77,504 square feet, encompasses locker rooms, physical therapy and treatment areas, doctor offices, a multi-media studio and an organizational museum, as well as executive offices. Separately, the 75,000-square-foot indoor practice facility includes a workout gym and a full-service cafeteria. Next door, the Pelicans’ practice facility, a $16M project, opened in '13. The 50,000-square-foot facility contains two full courts, a players lounge, cafeteria, barber shop and meeting rooms and a team theater for film review and game planning, in addition to physical therapy and medical treatment rooms. All told, the performance center sits on about 20 acres in Metairie, which is situated about eight miles northwest of New Orleans.
