The naming-rights deal for the New Orleans Saints’ and Pelicans’ combined practice facilities hits home for
Tom Benson, the teams’ owner.
Officials with the NFL and NBA clubs announced last week that they had signed an eight-year deal with Ochsner Health System to rebrand their Metairie, La., complex as the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal carries emotional connections for Benson. In 2008, he underwent surgery at Ochsner to remove a cancerous growth on his left kidney. Two years later, Benson donated $5 million to the hospital to create the Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer Center, and in 2015, he gave $20 million to expand the facility.
For Ochsner, buying naming rights for the practice facilities expands a relationship that began about 10 years ago when the hospital first signed on as a sponsor of both teams. About six months ago, the Saints and Pelicans approached Ochsner about extending its deal to include naming rights.
“We didn’t pitch it to anyone else,” said Mike Stanfield, senior vice president of sales for both teams, who worked on the deal. “We were aligned together with two goals: cancer awareness, and health and fitness. That’s how the conversation started … and it sends a strong message to the ‘Gulf South,’ our market of 7.5 million people.”
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Mockup shows branding placement at the Pelicans’ facility.
Image: NEW ORLEANS SAINTS / PELICANS
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Unlike other big league practice facilities, Ochsner won’t have a clinic on site, but discussions about adding that element could take place in the future, Stanfield said. Ochsner already has two locations in Metairie, a New Orleans suburb.
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 property spans 20 acres.
The Pelicans’ practice facility, a $16 million project, opened in 2013 next to the Saints’ complex.
> LOVE IN VAIN: Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment’s Jeff Knapple has relinquished his title as the agency’s president and CEO after making the decision to get married and relocate from New York to Los Angeles.
Knapple will retain his position as Van Wagner’s president of team and venue services. He said the change was made because moving back to the West Coast would make it difficult for him to be involved with day-to-day corporate operations in New York.
As part of the adjustment, the firm’s media and properties division will be combined with team and venue services, he said.
John Massoni, Van Wagner’s chief operating officer, now takes over as president and CEO, according to Chris Allphin, senior vice president of team and venue services.
In late September, Knapple will marry actress Jill Whelan, who played Vicki Stubing on “The Love Boat” for nine seasons. They’ll tie the knot in Los Angeles, where Knapple worked for many years with Wasserman Media Group and the old Envision.
In the meantime, he’s consulting for FC Barcelona on potential naming rights to Camp Nou, the 60-year-old soccer stadium undergoing a $700 million renovation.
> FOODIES: Food vendor Spectra has scheduled its first Culinary Innovation Summit for Aug. 8-11 in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Ill.
About 40 industry professionals, including a dozen Spectra chefs from its sports and entertainment venues, will converge at U.S. Foods’ headquarters to come up with new food concepts.
The summit’s second day will focus on a “Top Chef”-style competition. The goal is to come away with a half-dozen strong menu items for distribution across the company, said Scott Swiger, Spectra’s vice president of culinary excellence.
Chefs expected to attend the summit include Elizabeth Barlow (Talen Energy Center), Ryan Curry (Isotopes Park), Effie Speigler (Oakland Coliseum), Chad Vander Ploeg (Wells Fargo Arena) and Travis Wilson (Blue Wahoos Stadium).
Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @breakground.
