McAfee Gives Up Coliseum Naming Rights After 10-Year Deal
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McAfee Opts Not To Renew Naming-Rights
Deal For Oakland-Alameda County Stadium |
California-based McAfee Inc. Friday said that it "will not renew its naming rights deal" at McAfee Coliseum, the Oakland stadium that hosts the A's and Raiders, according to the SACRAMENTO BUSINESS JOURNAL. McAfee's 10-year contract for the naming rights expired Thursday, and the stadium now "will revert to its former name, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/19). Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said that McAfee's departure will result in $1.3M less revenue annually. But De La Fuente added that "two companies have expressed interest in attaching their names to the Coliseum." De La Fuente said of McAfee, "I'm disappointed they chose not to renew the contract, but we're working on it." He added, "There's no question the economy is bad, but we have an asset here." De La Fuente said that McAfee "made an offer significantly lower than the contract that just expired." However, he "would not specify the amount, saying only that it was unacceptably low." McAfee in '98 paid $13.2M for the naming rights (Christopher Heredia, S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/20).
A'S ON THE MOVE? In S.F., Rusty Simmons reported A's Owner Lew Wolff "stood fast Friday to his desire to move the team to Fremont and threatened leaving California altogether if the proposal doesn't work." Wolff Friday spoke to the team's booster club in Oakland, and when asked if he has made a "sincere effort to stay in Oakland," Wolff said, "I wish I had a lie-detector test. I spent two years making a sincere effort to stay in Oakland, but it was not as simple as I thought it might be. ... When a lot of you sue me for leaving, I think I can win the case because I tried." Wolff added that an "agreement regarding new TV and radio contracts could be announced in the next couple of months" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/20). Also in S.F., Ray Ratto noted Wolff is saying that "if the Fremont deal isn't done by 2012 or sometime soon thereafter, the A's will move to another state." Ratto: "It's good old-fashioned lousy timing, and trying to scare folks who are already scared seems not only counter-intuitive but, well, stupid. ... To alienate a fan base with a threat that he cannot carry out for the foreseeable future is just plain daft" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/21).
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