Timex Acquires Naming Rights To NFL Giants' Practice Facility
Timex has reached a 15-year partnership with the NFL Giants that includes naming rights to the team's new training facility and corporate HQs in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The building, located adjacent to the new Giants/Jets stadium, will be called the Timex Performance Center. In addition, Timex also becomes the official performance equipment of the Giants (Timex). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Matthew Futterman cites sources as saying that the deal is worth $35M over the length of the partnership. Under the deal, Timex will have a "major presence on the team's radio broadcasts and on video-board advertising" in the team's new Meadowlands stadium when it opens in '10. Home game timeouts starting next season will be referred to as "Timex timeouts," while the company also will place 16 "digital clocks throughout the parking lots ticking off the 'Timex countdown to kickoff'" prior to each game. Futterman notes while the sponsorship is "certainly lucrative," the lack of naming rights for the team's new stadium "remains the elephant in the swamp that no one can ignore." Timex and Giants officials both indicated that they "never seriously discussed the possibility that the company might want" to acquire the entitlement of the stadium. Timex President Adam Gurian said that the deal "will give Timex direct access to consumers," and the new partnership is part of Gurian's "broader plan to transform Timex from the company that makes your grandfather's watch to a 21st-century timing technology leader." Timex last year also signed on to sponsor the ING N.Y. Marathon (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/17). Gurian said terms of the deal are "comparable" to NovaCare Inc.'s 25-year, $60M sponsorship of the Eagles' practice facility. The agreement also includes sponsorship of the "Giants GameDay" TV show, and Gurian said that the two sides have "discussed creating football-specific products." Gurian: "We wanted to do something more than just sticking our name on the outside of the building" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/16).
WORTH THE MONEY? In N.Y., Ralph Vacchiano writes, "I still don't get what Timex -- or any corporation -- really gets out of naming rights to a practice facility." Vacchiano: "I'm pretty sure that most of the time I'll be writing the Giants practiced at 'their facility' or 'at the Meadowlands' rather than give Timex a free ad" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 6/17). CNBC's Darren Rovell writes, "Practice facilities don’t have life. Fans don’t really attend practice facilities and they don’t really have anywhere close to the naming rights value of stadiums since games are never broadcast from there and journalists won't feel the same responsibility in quoting the name of the facility" (CNBC.com, 6/17).
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