Naming rights fees reduce by 30% if Louisville men's basketball is banned from TV for a seasongetty images
The new naming-rights agreement for the KFC Yum! Center could bring in more than $16M for the "building’s debt payments over the next 11 years," but also lets the company "lower its annual payments -- as much as 30 percent" -- if the Univ. of Louisville men's basketball team is sanctioned by the NCAA, according to Marcus Green of Louisville-based WDRB-Fox. The deal also "requires no guaranteed payments from Yum! Brands for the first two years of the contract" that started retroactively in October and ends in September '31. But Yum! has "agreed to pay up to $450,000 this year and up to $1.5 million next year if certain home game and television goals are met." The $16.3M figure assumes that UL "will play at least 10 regular season, nationally televised games this season at home." Against the backdrop of the pandemic, UL and other teams "have regularly cancelled games due to illness." As for how the deal changes based on any sanctions to UL, there is a 5% "reduction in naming rights" if UL "loses two or more scholarships, for two or more seasons." A 10% reduction occurs if a "post-season ban occurs." And a "decrease of 30% if the program is banned from television for a season." Yum! has agreed to "add 10% in additional fees" during years in which UL makes a men’s basketball Final Four (WDRB.com, 12/22).
