Stadium naming rights deals have become a significant source of income for many clubs, up to the point that a chairman is willing to throw one of the most classic stadium names away (and his remaining popularity with the fans) in favour of a sponsor name.
In the Major League Soccer sponsor names are even more common than in Europe, with 14 out of 19 stadiums carrying the name of a company, including all recently built soccer-specific stadiums.
There is however one stadium that bucks the trend, which is the recently opened LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City.
Livestrong, Lance Armstrong’s cancer awareness foundation and famous for their yellow bracelets, is not paying anything at all for having the stadium carry its name. In fact, Sporting Kansas City is donating Livestrong a reported minimum of $7.5 million over a 6-year period, which is to come from a percentage of the stadium’s revenues.
A football club and charity teaming up is no novelty, Barcelona’s deal with Unicef comes to mind, and other clubs have resorted to temporary similar deals when they were unable to find a sponsor for the right price. However, a long-term naming rights deal like this seems a primer.
So why has Kansas City decided to team up with Livestrong and forego a possible $10 to 15 million in sponsor money and donate an extra $7.5 million?
Of course the Livestrong foundation, though not without controversy, is a cause worthy of supporting. But KC’s owners think there is more in it then just helping cancer awareness.
For one, the club would get access to Livestrong’s partners, donors, and contacts, which could help the club in attracting more outside events to the stadium. The club also states to have gained a large social media following through Livestrong’s strong online presence.
The deal might also give the club a stronger and more positive profile. Sporting Kansas City is considered to be one of the MLS clubs with the least value, and has in the past struggled with attendances and merchandise sales. Linking up with the strong brand Livestrong and a personality such as Lance Armstrong might be a very sensible long-term investment.
Initial figures prove that there might be some truth in this, with merchandise sales, club membership, and attendances all up. The club recently opened the season with a full house and registered a healthy attendance of 15,000 at its second home match. Of course, whether these benefits will be sustained over the long-term remains to be seen.
The Livestrong Sporting Park itself, which opened in June last year and can hold 18,467 fans, seems a very fine stadium, and an example that the new generation of MLS soccer-specific stadiums is a definite step forward from the previous one.
The stadium is also stocked with the latest technology, with free WiFi for its visitors and 330 HD television providing custom updates such as the latest out-of-town scores, all at a total construction cost of $200 million.
Will more football clubs follow the example of Kansas City? Livestrong CEO Doug Ulman thinks yes, and one year ago predicted that other clubs would follow within 24 months. Which means that we have one year left to see if he was right.
Photos: © Flickr user Aaron Stroot.