Information technology systems provider Insight Enterprises has signed on as the first founding partner for the Arizona Cardinals’ new $355 million multipurpose stadium, scheduled to open next summer.
Team officials declined to discuss specific terms of their initial founding sponsor. Industry sources said the all-cash deal was for between seven and 10 years with an annual value starting in the low seven figures.
Insight, based in Tempe, is one of the area’s biggest employers. It had sales of more than $3 billion for the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31 and was ranked No. 537 on the 2004 “Fortune 1000.”
Insight hopes to use the as-yet-untitled stadium as a technology showcase. The deal includes naming rights to a 40,000-square-foot club on the east side of the stadium that will house a technology showcase “briefing center,” within which Insight will demonstrate its “information technology solutions.”
The Cards’ deal is Insight’s biggest sports marketing expenditure to date, although the company has sponsored the local college bowl game (now played at Bank One Ballpark) that carried its name for the last eight years.
With Insight’s help, the Cardinals’ new facility will stake claim to being one of the first “pure IP” stadiums in sports, meaning it will carry voice, video and data over one network. Insight becomes the “Official Information Technology Solutions Provider” for the team, the stadium and the Cardinals’ practice facility.
Televisions and monitors — no small expense in a new facility — will also be purchased from Insight under the agreement. The significant carve-outs from the Insight deals are the local, long-distance and data-service provider, along with the wireless category, expected to be one of the new stadium’s largest sponsorship categories.
Also provided under the deal are permanent signage on the fascia within the stadium, a panel on the north scoreboard, suite and club seating and branded features with the radio and TV media controlled by the Cardinals.
Cardinals vice president of marketing and sales Ron Minegar said the team had negotiated with eight potential IT infrastructure providers since last May, offering a “ground floor” opportunity and the ability to participate in the construction of a “wow factor” facility.
“From the beginning, we’ve been operating with the guidelines that high-design architecture and technology were going to be significant parts of our overall branding effort for the stadium and the team,” Minegar said. “From a marketing standpoint, Insight will position itself as the technology behind the team.”
Among its other technological advances is the fact that the stadium will be the first in North America with both a retractable field and roof. The Fiesta Bowl will take up residence there, with the first game in 2007 designated as the BCS championship game. Super Bowl XLII will be held in the new facility in 2008.
