Three years into what was supposed to be a 10-year, $10M naming-rights agreement between the Univ. of New Mexico and Albuquerque’s Dreamstyle Remodeling for both the school's basketball arena and football stadium, the "deal is off," according to Geoff Grammer of the ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL. Workers on Friday "removed all exterior signage" from the stadiums. Still, Dreamstyle Remodeling President & CEO Larry Chavez said that he "remains hopeful that the two parties can resolve their disagreement over what is owed on the deal" that was announced in May '17. Both sides "agree he has paid at least" $1.5M on the deal, and Chavez has "offered a new" $7M proposal to continue a deal. But UNM, through correspondence and interviews from June, believes that Chavez "still owes" an additional $1.9M, and so has "rejected his new offer and has declined an offer to have the situation heard by a mediator." Grammer noted the deal between Chavez and UNM was signed in April '17, although the contract "technically was signed by Dreamstyle and Learfield/IMG," UNM’s former media-rights partner. That media-rights deal ended in '19, which is "when Chavez said he had hoped to start a new one with UNM" (ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, 9/19).
