New Truist Bank Chair & CEO Kelly King said the company "would consider" succeeding Belk as the title sponsor of Charlotte's annual college football bowl game in order to "make a splash" in the site of its HQ, according to a front-page piece by Richard Craver of the WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL. The move also would add "national recognition" to the combined BB&T and SunTrust banks due to the game's "exposure on ESPN." It was announced last month that the Charlotte-based department store would not return to sponsor the Belk Bowl for a 10th year following the Dec. 31 edition, which will feature Kentucky and Virginia Tech. King said, "One of the appealing things is that it is not a bowl about making money, but rather to support the local community outreach. As I understand it, the proceeds of the bowl going back to the community ... that's the king of thing I personally like, and you could see us getting more excited about things like that." Craver noted Truist this weekend "crossed a pivotal threshold" with the "official legal and regulatory combining" of BB&T and SunTrust Banks into the nation's sixth-largest bank (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 12/9).
FACILITY UPDATES COMING: In Charlotte, Danielle Chemtob notes BB&T and SunTrust each have "sports facilities throughout the region that bear their names, including the 10,000-seat BB&T Ballpark," home of the Triple-A Int'l League Charlotte Knights, and SunTrust Park in Atlanta. Truist in a company statement said that it still is "working on a plan for changes to signage and other assets that display the old brands at the venues and properties it partners with" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 12/9).
