Wednesday, September 27, 2006

U. of Phoenix Buys Naming Rights to a Pro-Football Stadium

By GOLDIE BLUMENSTYK

Following in the path of Gillette, FedEx, and Reliant, the University of Phoenix has bought the naming rights to a National Football League stadium, it announced on Tuesday.

Phoenix's $154-million, 20-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals makes it the first university to strike a stadium deal in which the university is paying out the millions rather than receiving them.

The deal is the second-most-lucrative in the NFL, after the Houston Texans' 30-year, $300-million deal with Reliant Energy. Still, even with Phoenix making average annual payments of $7.7-million a year, the expense will amount to only about 3 percent of the $250-million the university's parent company spends annually for advertising and promotion. It spends about the same on recruiting students. Its overall revenues exceed $2-billion.

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