Escalating costs of KeyArena's renovation have caused Oak View Group to "shift priorities away from naming rights in order to first secure premium amounts for smaller founding partner sponsorships," which is part of the reason why "talks aren't further along" on securing a naming-rights partner, according to Geoff Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. OVG is "said to want" $4-6M annually for founding partnerships, such as those already struck with Symetra, Virginia Mason and Alaska Airlines. Sources said that OVG is in "final negotiations with Verizon on a coveted technology founding partnership that's taken longer because of the volume of competing bidders." Theories "abound" on why OVG's strategy has shifted. One is that OVG "securing higher founding partnership amounts will drive up the bigger-ticket naming rights." Another reason is that when "initial naming rights discussions happened" in early '18, the arena's "projected cost" was still $700M. Once the founding partnerships "are done, including the technology deal and one for wireless and beverage partners, the focus reverts to naming rights." Amazon has been "widely viewed as a contender" for the naming rights. However, sources said that Microsoft also is "interested in naming rights and could make more sense from an integration perspective." Microsoft's Xbox had a "decadelong jersey and pitch sponsorship with the Sounders," which was signed in '09 when now-NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke was the club's president. Another "potential bidder is said to be Expedia" (SEATTLE TIMES, 2/4).
