The Golden State Warriors’ proposed $500 million privately funded waterfront arena in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood has not passed all the necessary approval hurdles, but sources tell us
CAA Sports is nonetheless quietly working on a naming-rights package for the 18,000-seat building with an asking price in excess of $15 million per year. One well-placed source in the naming-rights community said the price was considerably higher than that, at $18 million per year. Either figure would set a new standard for arena naming rights, rivaled only by
JPMorgan Chase’s Madison Square Garden deal, which extends across a number of additional MSG-owned buildings, media, entertainment and team properties.
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast Archive:
From Jan. 5: Senior writer Bill King and Assistant Managing Editor Tom Stinson discuss Hollywood mogul Peter Guber, who is also co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Golden State Warriors and the new MLS Los Angeles Football Club.
The Golden State representation gives CAA Sports another big win in the San Francisco market, where it helped sell title sponsorship and other marketing rights for the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, which opened last year. In the biggest “who-you-know” business in America, there was a solid connection that gave CAA the upper hand: Prior to joining CAA Sports as co-head, Howie Nuchow worked for Warriors owner
Peter Guber’s
Mandalay Entertainment as president. Nuchow referred calls on the assignment to the client. Golden State Warriors President
Rick Welts said via email, “It’s nothing we are commenting on at this time.”
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Representing the Warriors’ new arena is another win in the Bay Area for CAA Sports, which sold naming rights to Levi’s Stadium.
Photo by: MANICA ARCHITECTURE
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The proposed Warriors arena, to be built about four blocks from AT&T Park, is tentatively set to open for the 2018-19 NBA season. It’s part of a planned 12-acre mixed-use development. As planned, it will be accompanied by 100,000 square feet of retail space and 580,000 square feet of office space. Some 75 miles or so north, the Sacramento Kings are building their own $477 million arena with plans to open in time for the 2016-17 NBA season. However, we’re told that the naming-rights sales assignment there is being handled in-house, by the team’s
Crown Sports sales unit, which also represents the U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Association, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Sacramento Sports Commission.
> AGENCY WATCH 1: IPG’s Momentum Worldwide is hiring more than 50 new employees and leasing new space in the building that houses its New York City headquarters after winning Verizon’s sports and entertainment business from Wasserman Media Group. Some agency veterans were calling the new Verizon assignment the largest sports agency consolidation ever. The move was done without a review and follows the hiring of Wieden & Kennedy by Verizon as its new creative agency two months ago.
Aside from the strategic refocus and property audit, which are de rigueur after any agency switch, NFL sources tell us Momentum’s initial assignment is formulating activation plans behind the NFL draft from April 30 to May 2 in Chicago. We understand the account is being headed by Kevin McNulty, a 20-year Momentum vet, but we assume the recent addition of Mike Sundet, former Anheuser-Busch vice president of sports and entertainment marketing, will also help. Sundet joined Momentum as senior vice president and director of sports and entertainment in February, after 19 years with A-B.
Verizon’s other large sports sponsorship is the 10-year deal it signed last year with the IndyCar Series, for a reported $100 million. SportsBusiness Journal/Daily’s Resource Guide Live lists more than 100 separate team and venue sponsorships for Verizon, including an astounding five separate naming-rights deals: Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Ark.; Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.; Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.; Verizon Wireless Arena at Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, Va.; and the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minn.
> AGENCY WATCH 2: Dentsu Aegis’ MKTG has been named experiential and community marketing agency of record for the 600-store Dick’s Sporting Goods chain. Among the agency’s responsibilities will be activation of the retailer’s recent U.S. Olympic Committee sponsorship, under which some Olympians in training will work at Dick’s, similar to the Home Depot/USOC program, which ended with that sponsorship in 2009. The MKTG/Dick’s relationship started around a year ago, when MKTG was selected to help the Pittsburgh-based retailer leverage its 6-year-old sponsorship of the Pittsburgh Marathon. The account will be directed by Kevin Collins in the agency’s Chicago office.
> PEPPER ALLOWED: Fanatics has signed Dr Pepper Snapple to a one-year deal under which the sports licensed e-commerce retail specialist will provide two turnkey “Cheers to the Fans” promotions, which will be employed on Dr Pepper fountain-served beverages. More than 16 million instant-win game pieces will be used in the promos, which will run in June and September and award thousands of Fanatics-provided prizes, ranging from 20 percent discount coupons to $250 gift cards. Fanatics has done similar promos with McDonald’s for a Hispanic FIFA World Cup effort; Dunkin’ Donuts for several NFL teams and some holiday programs; and MillerCoors.
Charley Mays, Dr Pepper Snapple Group director of food service marketing, said that if the program does well, it will also be used more broadly across the company’s portfolio of beverage brands.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
