Rutgers University is looking to sell naming rights for its 14-year-old football stadium, banking on its proximity to New York City to help drive the deal.
The resulting revenue could go toward the $30 million in private financing required for a $102 million Rutgers Stadium expansion project.
The school has authorized Nelligan Sports Marketing of Little Falls, N.J., which owns the rights to sell sponsorships for Rutgers athletics, to broker a 20- to 25-year contract for its stadium, in Piscataway, N.J.
T.J. Nelligan, chairman and CEO for Nelligan Sports Marketing, declined to say what Rutgers’ deal could be worth, other than predicting the annual numbers would exceed $1.4 million, the value of the top deal among the eight NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools that have sold naming rights to their stadiums.
The current champ, the University of Minnesota, signed TCF Bank to a 25-year, $35 million deal in 2005. The 50,000-seat stadium will open in Minneapolis in 2009.
Money from selling naming rights could help
pay for a $102 million expansion project.
“We’re in the very fortunate position of being in the No. 1 media market in the country with significant exposure,” Nelligan said. “There may be bigger and better stadiums and football programs, but there aren’t many that contain the upscale demographics New Jersey can deliver.”
Wasserman Media Group’s Jeff Knapple is selling naming rights for the new NFL stadium at the Meadowlands, about 35 miles from the Rutgers campus. Knapple questioned whether the school is part of the New York market, but acknowledged that a deal worth $2 million annually is a reasonable expectation.
“Rutgers plays in a small facility,” Knapple said, recognizing the expansion will push capacity from 41,500 to 56,000 seats when the two-year project is completed in 2009. “It’s not really based in a large metro area, it’s too far from New York City, and this is a new name on an existing stadium.”
The Rutgers board of governors last week approved a plan to pay for a $102 million renovation that includes the school selling $72 million in bonds and $30 million in private contributions.
Those numbers do not include naming-rights income, which could be used to help pay construction debt, Nelligan said. Rutgers has not made that decision, said Kevin MacConnell, deputy director of athletics.
The athletic department has about 75 sponsors. Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Cure Auto Insurance, STS Tires and energy companies Hess and PSE&G are among the 20 to 25 that have deals valued in the mid-six figures annually, Nelligan said.
Rutgers’ football program has come alive the past three seasons, winning 26 games and competing in three bowl games.
Work is expected to start this week to build 856 club seats, 28 four-seat loge boxes and indoor hospitality space on the stadium’s east side, premium inventory that will be completed in time for the 2008 season.
The expansion’s second phase, erecting 13,000 bench seats to fill open space in the south end zone, will start during next season and should be finished in 2009.
