Current naming rights agreements in KC

Terry Lefton picks up seashells by the sea, so some people in the SBJ newsroom commandeer this week’s newsletter. Hopefully we can steer the ship as well as Commodore Lefton.

A quick stewardship note: SBJ Marketing will be taking its own break next week.

The Kansas City current opened its $18 million training facility in June — the first in the United States built specifically for a professional women’s sports team — about a week after Allison Howard left the Lakers to join the NWSL team as new president. Howard spent a decade with the Lakers and after moving to KC she immediately called the longtime sponsors she worked with.

“They all said, ‘As soon as you get settled, you better call me. I want to be a part of it,'” Howard told SBJ’s Bret McCormick. “So the conversations are easy. But there are still so many unknowns because this is the first. We are literally innovating. So there’s no analysis to support what we’re doing because it’s never been done before.” The naming rights and sponsorship will significantly increase revenue for the NWSL club, which currently plays at Children’s Mercy Park. , home of MLS Sporting KC

Beyond the training facility, the Current are opening the nation’s first purpose-built stadium for a professional women’s team in 2024. Howard said she would ideally have a stadium naming rights sponsor in place by the end of the day. of this year, so they can be better. incorporated into the design of the $120 million stadium, which is still being finalized. Howard shared no sponsorship revenue goals, other than to say, “We’re going to blow a lot of expectations out of the water.”

Howard said there are a few brands his team is talking to for naming rights — brands that don’t have such deals in any other league. She said a bit of feedback so far is that potential sponsors want more retail space in the stadium.

At present, naming rights to the training center provide significant exposure for a brand, as the site is adjacent to a major highway and will host youth football tournaments on its 10 pitches which the club is running. building. Team owners Angie and Chris Long own over 75 acres on the site, 50 of which will be used for football and 25 for other developments. “The business case around facilities just makes sense, and when you think about corporate values ​​around women’s sports, trend is our friend,” said Chris Long.

The Current’s training facility, which will open ahead of the new stadium, will also seek naming rights

Innovative Partnerships Group is recruiting two executives to its Dallas office. John Alper will join as Senior Vice President/Business Development and Partnerships and Amanda Dick as Account Manager.

Alper will be co-head of Innovative Partnerships Group’s global sports and entertainment property roster, alongside chief executive Matt Wiener. He will lead the creation of a naming rights, partnerships, sales and account management team and will be part of the agency leadership team. Prior to Innovative Partnerships Group, Alper worked for the Mavericks and FC Dallas on the team and venue side, then spent 10 years with Premier Partnerships and Legends on the agency side.

Dick comes to the agency after more than a decade of experience with teams like FC Dallas, Cowboys, Dr Pepper and Snapple.

Global sales of licensed goods and services totaled $315.5 billion in 2021, a 7.75% increase from 2019, according to an analysis of Licensing International data by Jonathan Heijjer of SBJ Atlas. The data, which is part of the company’s new Global Licensing Study conducted by Brandar Consulting, shows that 34% of global sales were made through online channels, up from 22% in 2019. amounted to $17.4 billion, an increase of 10.6%.

Fifty-nine percent of global consumption of licensed goods and services came from the United States and Canada, totaling $186.2 billion, up 9.7% from 2019.

As is the norm, the most revenue-generating properties were “entertainment/character” and “company/brand”. Sports category revenue followed at 9.9%, totaling $31.2 billion, an increase of 7.9% over 2019 (sports is major league and does not include licensing colleges).

Although “college” properties lag behind in terms of revenue, there are indications and expectations of growth fueled by the changing landscape on campuses across the country. Across all properties, the sporting goods category grew 30% over 2019, reaching $13 billion in 2021. Specifically, college sporting goods saw an 18% increase over 2019 and the overall sporting goods category grew by 8%.

• PepsiCo will invest $550 million for an 8% stake in energy drink maker Celsius under a long-term distribution deal, CNBC ratings. SBJ’s Juwan Watson spoke with Celsius CEO John Fieldly late last month about the brand’s sports marketing strategy, which this year has included a big push into NASCAR.

• EA Sports FC, EA’s new European soccer division formed following the publisher’s loss of the FIFA license, has teamed up with Spain’s La Liga, notes SBJ’s Hunter Cooke. The deal starts with the 2023-24 season and will include naming rights for all LaLiga competitions.

• The UFC has partnered with the Amazon Merch on Demand platform to offer new merchandise, SBJ’s Adam Stern reports.