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A new scoreboard is among the $40M in upgrades at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
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The Palace of Auburn Hills, one of only two NBA arenas without a naming-rights deal, is going to market in search of that lead sponsorship.
While the 26-year-old arena is one of the oldest venues in the NBA, $40 million in capital improvements over the past three years is making Palace Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Dennis Mannion confident that a deal can be done.
The Palace has the largest capacity of any NBA arena, at 22,076. Palace Sports & Entertainment owns the arena and its lead tenant, the NBA Pistons.
“Because of the capital improvements ownership put into the facility, we feel that now it’s as good if not better than any arena in terms of flexibility, clubs and technology, so it’s a good time to go to market,” said Mannion, adding that the real sales process will begin next month. “The [sponsorship] market here has rebounded as the auto industry has bounced back.”
Among the recent improvements to the Palace were luxury suite renovations, a massive, 56,000-pound scoreboard, and upgraded DAS and Wi-Fi systems.
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Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
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Since the building and the Pistons were sold to Tom Gores and his Platinum Equity investment firm in 2011, there have been rumors of a naming-rights deal for the building. That’s something that had been avoided under the administration of prior ownership of Palace Sports & Entertainment, the Davidson family.
Mannion was mum on pricing for the building’s naming rights; the venue has never had a corporate nameplate. But industry sources said the Palace, which hosts around 150 events a year, should fetch $5 million to $6 million per year, depending on how much media is packaged into the deal.
“We’ve got a bottom line we want to achieve and if we can hit that number, we’re in business,” Mannion said.
Madison Square Garden is the NBA’s only other arena without a naming-rights deal.
Premier Partnerships of Santa Monica, Calif., has been assisting Palace Sports & Entertainment with evaluations and will help in the sales process and in selling other team sponsorship assets.
In pursuing a deal, there will be some competition for local naming-rights dollars from the Detroit Red Wings. The NHL team is building a $450 million arena that’s scheduled to open in 2017. There’s also a performance issue, as the Pistons haven’t had a winning season since the 2007-08 NBA campaign.
As for the nationwide market for naming deals?
“I’m not sure if we are back to pre-recession levels for naming-rights deals, but your CEO’s picture doesn’t go up on the dartboard any more if he suggests one,” said naming-rights veteran Rob Yowell of Gemini Sports. “I don’t think we’ll see any more excessively large deals unless an NFL stadium gets built in L.A., but the market is solid as more new building opportunities present themselves.”
