State Farm signed an 18-year naming-rights deal for the NFL Cardinals' stadium in Glendale, and "much of the re-branding in and around the stadium will be done by the Cardinals' first regular season home game" on Sunday, according to a front-page piece by Jen Fifield of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Under the sponsorship agreement with Univ. of Phoenix, the Cardinals "received annual payments" of about $7.7M. Cardinals President Michael Bidwill would "not say whether the team is making more under the new deal." He also "praised State Farm, saying it fits in with the Cardinals' values and priorities." Bidwill said that both the Cardinals and State Farm have a "focus on community, a focus on doing what's right and a focus on trying to really benefit the community with what we have." Bidwill said that the Cardinals had been in talks with State Farm about a potential sponsorship "for a while," and the deal "started to come together this spring." Bidwill added that the two companies have a "long relationship spanning more than a decade" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/5). In Phoenix, Kent Somers writes the leasing of naming rights to sporting venues and events "often leads to odd couplings." Somers: "No one knows that better than Arizonans." The new deal "didn’t seem to get much of a reaction other than, 'What, no casino wanted to pony up?'" Bidwill did his "best to convince everyone that the new business relationship with State Farm was a match made in heaven" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/5).
