Atlantic Health’s naming-rights deal for the New York Jets’ practice facility will effectively pay for one-third of the cost to build the $75 million complex in Florham Park, N.J.
The New Jersey-based health care organization committed to a 12-year sponsorship “north of $25 million,” according to an industry source.
The Jets’ business operations will move from Long Island and Manhattan to Florham Park midway through 2008, and the team will start practicing there in 2009.
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| The Jets plan to be practicing at their new
Florham Park, N.J., complex in 2009 |
Florham Park is about 25 miles west of the Meadowlands, where the Jets play their home games. Hempstead, N.Y, the Jets’ longtime home, is roughly the same distance from the Meadowlands.
The Giants are building a practice facility at the Meadowlands, where they share Giants Stadium with the Jets. The clubs will share a new stadium to open there in 2010.
To date, six clubs have sold naming rights for their practice facilities, all in the health care category (see chart).
The tie-in for hospitals to football makes sense, but there has to be a meaningful business-to-business relationship, said one marketing consultant.
“The true driver in any naming-rights deal is in the media, but those facilities are limited by media exposure, and that’s why there has to be a business component,” said E.J. Narcise, co-founder of Team Services.
Atlantic Health was previously a smaller Jets sponsor, buying mostly radio advertising, said Matt Higgins, the team’s senior VP of business operations. The company became the Jets’ official health care provider after buying the naming rights.
Unlike NovaCare’s public rehabilitation center, which is part of the Philadelphia Eagles’ complex, Atlantic Health will not have a presence on site other than having its name and logo on several spaces, including the roof of the indoor practice field.
Atlantic Health owns two hospitals near the Jets’ facility and wants to open a sports medicine center in the next two years a half-mile from the team’s new headquarters. Those plans were in the works before the Jets selected Florham Park in April 2006, said Paul Marmora, director of finance and operations for Morristown Memorial Hospital, an Atlantic Health property.
The Jets made a smart move by planting their flag in what has been considered New York Giants territory, “everything west of Long Island and Queens,” said Narcise, who grew up near Florham Park. “The Jets are beginning to cultivate a fan base there,” he said.
 Naming rights at practice facilities |
FACILITY | TEAM | DEAL BEGAN | TERMS |
| Atlantic Health Jets Training Center | New York Jets | 2007 | 12 years/$25 million+ |
| Virginia Mason Athletic Center | Seattle Seahawks | 2007 | NA |
| Methodist Training Center | Houston Texans | 2006 | 7 years/$14 million |
| NovaCare Complex | Philadelphia Eagles | 2001 | 25 years/$60 million |
| University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Performance Complex | Pittsburgh Steelers | 2000 | NA |
| Baptist Sports Park | Tennessee Titans | 1999 | NA |
| NA: Not available |
| Source: SportsBusiness Journal archives |
