In 1970 the New England Patriots popped open a frosty Schaefer Stadium after the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co. paid 25% of the costs of the team’s new $6.7 million stadium in Foxboro, Mass. That was the first time a corporation had paid a team to put its name on a venue, and the naming-rights market for the big leagues looks nothing like that these days.
A generation ago, 16% of the deals that had been signed belonged to an airline and 7% to a beermaker. Today, those industries have been replaced by insurance companies, health care providers and casinos.
The financial sector has been the most active in the space since 1988, when Great Western Bank paid $20 million for a 15-year deal to put its name atop the arena that was being renovated for the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and Major Indoor Soccer League Los Angeles Lazers.
