ATHENS, OHIO – The Ohio University Athletics Department has announced a new partnership with Front Row Marketing Services, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing sports and entertainment marketing firms, to secure naming rights for Peden Stadium Field and the Convocation Center. Front Row is a subsidiary of the Philadelphia-based Comcast-Spectacor that specializes in selling and evaluating commercial sponsorships as well as securing naming rights related inventory.

“Peden Stadium and the Convocation Center are two of the most time-honored properties in the MAC and greater collegiate athletics space” said Chris Lencheski, President for Front Row Marketing Services. “The Bobcat’s lair hosts some of the most exciting game experiences in Mid American Conference football and the Convocation Center serves as a multi-purpose event venue for the region and continues to be one of the NCAA’s most exciting atmospheres in college basketball, it is a privilege to be collaborating with Ohio University.”

“This is truly an exciting partnership for Front Row,” said Eric Smallwood, Senior Vice President for Front Row Marketing Services. “Ohio University has a proud history and tradition in the MAC and Division I Athletics, offering the potential naming rights partner millions of impressions each month. We look forward to contributing to that success.”

The 24,000 capacity stadium and 13,080 capacity arena are state-of-the-art facilities housing Ohio University’s prestigious Division 1 Football and Basketball programs. The venues are located in Athens, Ohio just outside of Columbus, Ohio’s state capital and largest market. Hosting its 85th season of Bobcats football and 45th season of basketball, Peden Stadium and the Convocation Center offer a previously unavailable sporting legacy for naming rights partners to engage NCAA fans, students, alumnus, and greater Columbus-area/Ohio consumers.

http://www.frontrow-marketing.com/press-...spx?id=467

Impressions:

-There are people that are associating this move simply with the money brought in by the naming rights. What they are ignoring is secondary promotion of games across the state under the corporate name that wouldn't be possible without the naming rights.

-The pitch of the FB/BB properties as Columbus area properties is important in seeing how Ohio views its media market. Ohio is the only MAC school with a radio station in Columbus.

-Ohio also has the best MAC presence in Cleveland proper between its medical campus its building in Shaker Heights and fan representation at the conference basketball tournament.

-Corporate naming rights for the FB/BB facilities might force Ohio's marketing deal with IMG to be renegotiated.

Quote:Radio network (live play-by-play, coaches' call-in and magazine shows, daily reports, webcasts, satellite rights, etc.), certain television rights (coaches' television shows, etc.), publishing (game day programs, official newspapers, schedule cards, posters, etc.), official athletic website and coaches websites, digital media, hospitality, promotions and at-event impact opportunities and all athletic venue signage and promotion.

http://www.imgcollege.com/our-properties...university

Quote:CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Illinois has sold the naming rights for Assembly Hall to State Farm Insurance Co.

In a 30-year, $60 million agreement announced Monday, the home of the university's basketball teams will be known immediately as State Farm Center. The change comes as the 50-year-old arena undergoes a renovation that is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2016.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mens-college-...arm-center

Illinois is receiving 2 million a year from State Farm for its basketball arena and it coincides with a major renovation for 2016. Ohio's basketball arena likewise is scheduled for an overall in 2017.

With both the BB arena right and FB stadium rights up for sale to one sponsor Ohio could be netting in the 4-5 million a year dollar range combined potentially.

Don't like the trend at all. I get why schools do it and don't know that I could say no if I was in their place, but I hate hearing each time.

That said, when I first saw Ohio and naming rights, I was thinking of Ohio Stadium (the Horseshoe) and glad at least that wasn't it.

Quote:Ohio Director of Athletics Jim Schaus said that Athletics and Front Row Marketing have been working together for a year with the purpose of engaging new sources of revenue, rather than the usual alumni and donors. He added that it’s “too early” to gauge interest from potential sponsors or how much a deal would cost and that there is no timetable for a deal.

“We hope to generate several million dollars,” Schaus said. “That (number) is very generic in nature, but there’s a lot of institutions — a lot of schools, not just professional facilities — who have had a lot of success in looking for corporate sponsorship opportunities.”

Schaus added that the the revenue could also go toward facility renovations but will be focused toward academics.

“We’re actually targeting revenue that we receive from these projects for academics,” he said. “Our goal is to apply the resources we get towards academic services.”

http://thepost.ohiou.edu/content/ou-athl...-and-convo

(11-19-2013 07:49 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  Illinois is receiving 2 million a year from State Farm for its basketball arena and it coincides with a major renovation for 2016. Ohio's basketball arena likewise is scheduled for an overall in 2017.

With both the BB arena right and FB stadium rights up for sale to one sponsor Ohio could be netting in the 4-5 million a year dollar range combined potentially.

We're talking about "Ohio" here, not "Ohio State", right?

Illinois is a major state flagship, a B1G school, Ohio is a largely unknown school in the MAC. There is no way Ohio will be getting 1/5 of what Illinois gets, maybe not 1/10.

Charlotte sold the naming rights of its football field for $2.5 million and the whole stadium's name for $10-million

Athens isn’t “just outside of Columbus” any more than Chillicothe is.

(11-20-2013 04:30 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Charlotte sold the naming rights of its football field for $2.5 million and the whole stadium's name for $10-million

How long is that in perpetuity or for a certain number of years?

(11-20-2013 06:36 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 04:30 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Charlotte sold the naming rights of its football field for $2.5 million and the whole stadium's name for $10-million

How long is that in perpetuity or for a certain number of years?

They were personal gifts so they are perpetual.

Here is some research info on how much naming rights have gone for in the past with some surprising results.

1980 Syracuse (2.75 mil)-Carrier Dome
1997 San Diego St (7.9 mil/10 years)-Cox Pavilion
1998 Louisville (5 mill/10 years)-Papa Johns
1998 Arizona State (5 mill/10 years)-Wells Fargo Arena
1998 Ohio State (12.5 mil)-Value City Arena
1999 Marquette (2.0 mil/6 years)-US Cellular Arena
1999 Oregon State (5.0 mil/10 years)-Resser Stadium
1999 Texas Tech (10 mil)-United Sprint Arena
2000 Washington (9 mil/10 years)-Seafirst Arena
2002 Wisconsin-GB (4.8 mil)-Resch Center
2002 Miami Fl (9.0 mil)-Ryder Center
2002 Maryland (20 mil/25 years)-Comcast Center
2003 Fresno State (40 mil/20 years)-Save Mart Co.

These naming rights deals aren't as good as what a lot of people think they would normally be. I see no reason though in 2013 why Ohio couldn't get 10 million/10 year deal for its BB arena and 5 mill/10 year for its field.

http://law.marquette.edu/national-sports...ghts-deals

(11-20-2013 06:43 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 06:36 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 04:30 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Charlotte sold the naming rights of its football field for $2.5 million and the whole stadium's name for $10-million

How long is that in perpetuity or for a certain number of years?

They were personal gifts so they are perpetual.

Together then Charlotte pocketed 12.5 million?

(11-20-2013 07:01 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  These naming rights deals aren't as good as what a lot of people think they would normally be. I see no reason though in 2013 why Ohio couldn't get 10 million/10 year deal for its BB arena and 5 mill/10 year for its field.

Rutgers, a B1G school, just signed a naming rights deal that will pay it $650k a year for 10 years for its football stadium.

Providence, a Big East team with a venerable basketball tradition, just signed a 10-year deal for $425k a year for its basketball arena. Nebraska, a B1G school, just signed a deal that will pay it $450k a year for its basketball arena.

Now how on earth is *Ohio* going to get anywhere near those amounts?

I'm not going to name the arenas because it takes too much time but here is naming rights data for D1 as of 8/7/13:

AAC
Central Florida FB (15 mil/15 years)
Central Florida BB (3.95 mil/7 years)
Louisville FB (15 mil/52 years)
Rutgers FB (6.5 mil/10 years)

AEast
Albany BB (2.75/10 years)

ACC
Maryland FB (20 mil/25 years)
Maryland BB (25 mil/20 years)
NC State BB (80 mil/20 years)

B12
Texas Tech FB (20 mil/25 years)
Texas Tech BB (10 mil/20 years)

Big East
Creighton BB (14 mil/15 years)
Providence BB (4.25 mil/10 years)

B1G
Illinois BB (60 mil/30 years)
Minnesota FB (35 mil/25 years)
Nebraska FB (11.25 mil/25 years)

CAA
Charleston BB (4.2 mil/7 years)
Towson BB (4.75 mil/10 years)

CUSA
Florida Atlantic FB (6 mil/12 years)
North Texas FB (20 mil/20 years)

MAAC
Fairfield BB (3.5 mi/10 years)

MAC
Akron FB (15 mil/20 years)

MVC
Evansville BB (4.2 mil/10 years)

MWC
Boise State BB (4.0 mil/15 years)
Fresno State BB (40 mil/20 years)
San Diego State BB (6.9 mil/10 years)

PAC
Washington BB (3.5 mil/5 years)

SBC
Arkansas State FB (5 mil/15 years)

http://businessofcollegesports.com/data/...hts-deals/

(11-20-2013 07:03 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 06:43 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 06:36 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 04:30 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Charlotte sold the naming rights of its football field for $2.5 million and the whole stadium's name for $10-million

How long is that in perpetuity or for a certain number of years?

They were personal gifts so they are perpetual.

Together then Charlotte pocketed 12.5 million?

The $2.5M is not official, its just the original figure that was thrown out several years ago. There's also the naming rights for the Judy Rose Field House, which originally was offered at $2.5M but no one knows if that's what Dale Halton paid for it (yes, the lady our basketball arena is named after).

(11-20-2013 07:43 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:01 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  These naming rights deals aren't as good as what a lot of people think they would normally be. I see no reason though in 2013 why Ohio couldn't get 10 million/10 year deal for its BB arena and 5 mill/10 year for its field.

Rutgers, a B1G school, just signed a naming rights deal that will pay it $650k a year for 10 years for its football stadium.

Providence, a Big East team with a venerable basketball tradition, just signed a 10-year deal for $425k a year for its basketball arena. Nebraska, a B1G school, just signed a deal that will pay it $450k a year for its basketball arena.

Now how on earth is *Ohio* going to get anywhere near those amounts?

Ohio State got 12.75 mil from Value City on its BB naming deal in perpetuity.

You're telling me that Ohio is going to get 1/10 of that or 1.275 million? I call BS on that because the smallest naming rights deal in the database is 1.2 million for UVA's soccer stadium.

Akron is half as popular in football as Ohio and they picked up a deal for 750k a year. From what I'm seeing the numbers tend to better on the naming rights not as much from the conference you play in as the amount of corporations in state.

The best naming deals are coming out of California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Ohio. Maryland has a good one with Comcast.

Based on what I'm seeing in Ohio, about 750k a year for the FB stadium and 750k a year for the basketball arena. Again I think this is where the market is going to be for some of the best remaining athletic properties available to endorse in the state. This is not a small school like Providence. Its a school of 38,000 system wide students with campuses across 2/3 of the state.

(11-20-2013 04:49 PM)AngryAphid Wrote:  Athens isn’t “just outside of Columbus” any more than Chillicothe is.

Athens is 1 hour now with the new bypass on US 33 from Columbus which is 70mph.....about the same time distance as Denton, TX to Dallas.

Ohio has about 40,000 alums in the greater Columbus market that are plenty close enough to get down to Athens for FB/BB games.

(11-20-2013 07:54 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:43 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:01 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  These naming rights deals aren't as good as what a lot of people think they would normally be. I see no reason though in 2013 why Ohio couldn't get 10 million/10 year deal for its BB arena and 5 mill/10 year for its field.

Rutgers, a B1G school, just signed a naming rights deal that will pay it $650k a year for 10 years for its football stadium.

Providence, a Big East team with a venerable basketball tradition, just signed a 10-year deal for $425k a year for its basketball arena. Nebraska, a B1G school, just signed a deal that will pay it $450k a year for its basketball arena.

Now how on earth is *Ohio* going to get anywhere near those amounts?

Ohio State got 12.75 mil from Value City on its BB naming deal in perpetuity.

You're telling me that Ohio is going to get 1/10 of that or 1.275 million? I call BS on that because the smallest naming rights deal in the database is 1.2 million for UVA's soccer stadium.

Dude, didn't I just show you that Rutgers got just $650k a year for its football? Are you seriously going to propose that Ohio, a MAC school that averages around 20,000 fans a game, is going to get $100k MORE than that?

Seriously?

Ohio will be doing very well if it gets $400k a year total for its football and basketball naming rights.

(11-20-2013 08:21 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:54 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:43 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:01 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  These naming rights deals aren't as good as what a lot of people think they would normally be. I see no reason though in 2013 why Ohio couldn't get 10 million/10 year deal for its BB arena and 5 mill/10 year for its field.

Rutgers, a B1G school, just signed a naming rights deal that will pay it $650k a year for 10 years for its football stadium.

Providence, a Big East team with a venerable basketball tradition, just signed a 10-year deal for $425k a year for its basketball arena. Nebraska, a B1G school, just signed a deal that will pay it $450k a year for its basketball arena.

Now how on earth is *Ohio* going to get anywhere near those amounts?

Ohio State got 12.75 mil from Value City on its BB naming deal in perpetuity.

You're telling me that Ohio is going to get 1/10 of that or 1.275 million? I call BS on that because the smallest naming rights deal in the database is 1.2 million for UVA's soccer stadium.

Dude, didn't I just show you that Rutgers got just $650k a year for its football? Are you seriously going to propose that Ohio, a MAC school that averages around 20,000 fans a game, is going to get $100k MORE than that?

Seriously?

Ohio will be doing very well if it gets $400k a year total for its football and basketball naming rights.

Nobody in Division 1 is getting an amount that small.

AND

They wouldn't be bothering with it if they didn't think they could haul in at least 1 million combined. The conference doesn't matter as much as you think just look at the numbers. Fresno State has one of the very biggest deals of all and they don't have that great of a basketball program.

(11-20-2013 08:53 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 08:21 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:54 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:43 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 07:01 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  These naming rights deals aren't as good as what a lot of people think they would normally be. I see no reason though in 2013 why Ohio couldn't get 10 million/10 year deal for its BB arena and 5 mill/10 year for its field.

Rutgers, a B1G school, just signed a naming rights deal that will pay it $650k a year for 10 years for its football stadium.

Providence, a Big East team with a venerable basketball tradition, just signed a 10-year deal for $425k a year for its basketball arena. Nebraska, a B1G school, just signed a deal that will pay it $450k a year for its basketball arena.

Now how on earth is *Ohio* going to get anywhere near those amounts?

Ohio State got 12.75 mil from Value City on its BB naming deal in perpetuity.

You're telling me that Ohio is going to get 1/10 of that or 1.275 million? I call BS on that because the smallest naming rights deal in the database is 1.2 million for UVA's soccer stadium.

Dude, didn't I just show you that Rutgers got just $650k a year for its football? Are you seriously going to propose that Ohio, a MAC school that averages around 20,000 fans a game, is going to get $100k MORE than that?

Seriously?

Ohio will be doing very well if it gets $400k a year total for its football and basketball naming rights.

Nobody in Division 1 is getting an amount that small.

AND

They wouldn't be bothering with it if they didn't think they could haul in at least 1 million combined. The conference doesn't matter as much as you think just look at the numbers. Fresno State has one of the very biggest deals of all and they don't have that great of a basketball program.

Are you kidding? Ohio, like most schools, is starved for money. They would gladly take an extra $400k per year from any source. And given what others are getting - like Rutgers, Nebraska, and Providence - $400k for basketball and football is a nice, generous amount.

As for conference, surely there is a big difference between the MAC and the B1G? B1G games feature name-brand opponents, which attracts media attention, and national TV coverage, which also gives nice publicity to the name of the arena. MAC games involve small-brand schools that attract far less media coverage, hence much less visibility for any naming rights.