The naming rights market set for Crew Stadium?

Crew Stadium would get more because of national and international broadcasts.

 

Bridgeview Bank has reportedly been dropped because Toyota outbid them. So that figure should be even better for Chicago.

I don't think Huntington's deal with the Clipper's would bring down the potential for CCS naming rights. I think the commish probably has a bit of a up or down vote on that kind of a deal (i.e. that deal isn't good enough, keep looking).

 

I doubt if the commissioner has jack squat to say about it.

Ain't his building or his money. Lamar Hunt can sell the naming rights to Tommy's Pizza for five bucks and a double pepperoni if he feels like it.

 

Sure but then he's going to be laughed at by everybody else on the board. Anschutz and the others will think he's a laughing stock. Garber may not actually sign/approve a thing, but Lamar knows he has to keep pace with what else is done around the league.

 

Since it is still called Columbus Crew Stadium after all these years I'm not about to turn a deep shade of blue holding my breath to find out what the Crew could get for the park, I'd just hope some money would go to a parking lot upgrade ( I know not owned by Hunt but a man can dream).

 

Call me old-fashioned by I think Columbus Crew Stadium just sound like a good name to go with. Let's not forget folks, we started this whole "soccer specific stadium" thang. Not to sound pretenious, but selling the name to the original SSS would kinda be like selling the naming rights to Yankee Stadium (although as an Indians fan, that place will always be known as Hell anyhow....)

As for the whole "parking situation" issue, i think its overblown, but its one that can be worked out, with right amount of money.

 

Huntington Bank's agreement with the new Clipper's stadium is the 2nd largest deal for any minor league ballpark. It might seem low, but compared to the MLS stadiums like mentioned before they have TV advertising something that a minor league park can't offer.

 

Did you actually read the post you quoted?

So it's not true that it would come up as a casual conversation amongst the other league investors? They wouldn't comment on a particularly low-end deal? They wouldn't snicker at Lamar when he's down the hall about how he couldn't get small market Columbus a decent naming rights deal? You know, you're responding to the old post, not the one you quoted. Quite watching porn when trying to respond to BS postings.

 

kk, I hold you in the highest regard. You are one of a handful of guys around here whose posts I always read all the way through because I know you to be a bright guy.

But this "Massah Lamar won't sell the naming rights unless he gets a boatload of money because the other owners would snicker at him" theory is, quite simply, silly.

If there's one thing all of those guys understand that maybe a lot of other people don't it's that money is money. Period. You sell what you need to sell for whatever you are able to get for it and then you move on.

Fabulously wealthy guys spend no time at all worrying about what the cool kids will say, unles the cool kids are also major stockholders. Trust me on this.

 

On the flipside, Bill, it's absurd to think that Jim Smith era thinking will return and we'll sell the naming rights for a few pizzas and a bag of tube socks. Sure Lamar can do what he wants, but if/when he decides to sell those rights, it's going to be for a respectable amount. Not Joe's Tire Barn and not Columbus Gold (but how cool would that be?). The name fits though, Columbus Gold Stadium... I think some modifications to the Huntington Club would be in order. Crewzers would definitely learn some new routines. Somebody get on the horn to McCullers and sell him on this idea.

 

Any cash they get from naming rights, is going straight into Lamar's pocket. And I'd argue rightfully so.

 

Absolutely.

Which is why, I would think, Hunt Sports Group handed the responsibility off to an outside marketer rather than have the Crew FO be responsible for it. The Crew wouldn't see a dime, so why should the Crew be out peddling the naming rights?

The Ohio Expo Commission has a deal with Hunt Sports, not with MLS or the Crew. When the time comes for the yearly $25k check to cover the lease for the land, I doubt if Mark McCullers writes it. It's written in Dallas.

If MLS goes down, Lamar and Clark Hunt will be left holding the bag. They will still be the owners of this empty building, and the State Fair board will still be checking their mailbox once a year for that check.

Crew Stadium is all theirs. Every dime they get from selling the name will go to Dallas. And as zak says: rightly so.

 

I was just trying to prevent the loons on this board from going into meltdown when they name it, and Lamar doesn't put a roof over the stadium.

 

WHAT!?!?! Why wouldn't he put a roof over it?

The money from the naming rights, hopefully over a long period of time, would help cover the out-of-pocket expense that Lamar dropped down to get CCS built. However, I have the feeling that CCS would be the first stadium to get rebuilt further down the road. If MLS is doing well in 10-20 years, expect that the team will get an entirely new stadium. I have a hard time believing that their long term plan is to expand the stadium and then add on a roof. Once the league has turned the profit corner and popularity is on the rise, CCS will be replaced by a new venue in a new location in town.

 

10 to 20 years from now there won't be a need to move. The growth rate of the Short North, Campus Area, ect, will envelope the stadium neighborhood. Really, it's the only part of town around that area which hasn't come up with a "revitalization" plan. It's just a matter of time before they do.

 

The stadium will be built next to wherever they build the 20 ft. statue of Sigi after his 5 consecutive MLS Cup in Columbus.

 

It was GOING to go there originally, correct? Before the voters were misinformed and the ballot issue to raise money for that downtown stadium was shot down?

 

It's already been worked out...it's called VIP parking. Best money I spend on the Crew every year.

 

I have several points which I need to revise. I hope my legion of fan will understand.

Firstly, I said in an earlier post that HSG pays $25,000 a year for the land, when I and everyone else is well aware that it is actually $50,000, (for 25 years with an option for another 25) which we know because the lease was made public awhile back and is still online someplace.

Chalk it up to fingers working with brain in neutral.

Secondly, it is inaccurate to say that the Crew FO does not "write the check" for the lease. The stadium is managed from the same offices as the team, and all such matters do indeed fall under the purview of Mr McCullers and his staff.

Thirdly, while the Bonham Group in Denver (I think), whose efficacy at this point I would question but that's not germane, is indeed the agent empowered to sell the naming rights to Hunt Park, it should be noted that the Crew FO has in the past and continues to cooperate with local information, leads and strategy. It is a joint effort, and I don't mean those things we suspected Zippy was smoking before games.

Properly chastised, I'm now going back to annoying my clients.

 

Who was the Mayor who hopped on a bulldozer (literally) and started in knocking down the old Ohio Pen before someone told him that the city didn't exactly own it?

Dana something, right? I can't remember. The guy between Tom Moody and The World's Largest Mayor. He got loaded and drove his car into a tree someplace.

Anybody who recalls the guy?

Anyway, yeah, the original plan was to build a soccer stadium on the old Penitentiary site. The voters shot it down, largely because of that soulless douchebag who organized all those "Vote No on Everything" jacktard.

Can't recall his name either. Anybody?