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January 19, 2007
What's in a Name? $400 Million
The NY Times
By Richard Sandomir
The Times covered the announcement of the purchase of the naming rights for a new Nets arena by Barclays from a sports-business perspective, as opposed to the grand civic announcement that played in much of the press:
Given the Nets’ history, it is also difficult to comprehend that Barclays is paying exactly what Citicorp committed in November for the right for 20 years to name the Mets’ new stadium, Citi Field, which is expected to open in 2009, a few months before the planned opening of Barclays Center. The arena, designed by Frank Gehry, is part of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards development near downtown Brooklyn. It still faces a series of lawsuits before it can be built.
Several demonstrators protested outside the museum, accusing Barclays of participating in the state’s attempt to use eminent domain to condemn property for the project. They also said Barclays profited from the slave trade yet is aligned with Ratner, who is marketing his team to African-American fans. A company spokesman said Barclays had not been involved in slavery.
The mayor turned away any criticism of Barclays and said with a Darryl Dawkins-sized dollop of civic hyperbole, “People will be talking about the Barclays Center all the time, all year, for decades to come.”
Yormark has earned his keep:
Brett Yormark, the president of Nets Sports & Entertainment, focused on Barclays as a possible naming rights buyer, with a New York-based fashion company, a bank and two telecommunciations corporations.
“We said: ‘Who needs a game changer here? Who’s got a footprint here, but isn’t big enough?’ and Barclays was on the list,” he said. “As we scoured financial institutions we saw Barclays needed a game changer, that they don’t have as big a presence or brand recognition here as in the U.K. And we saw that it got involved with the Barclays Classic in Westchester.” Barclays took over for Buick in 2005 as the sponsor of the PGA Tour event.
Posted by lumi at January 19, 2007 9:12 AM