Seahawks Ink NR Agreement

By Bill Miller

The National Football League's Seattle Seahawks inked a reported 15-year, $75 million naming rights agreement with Qwest Communications to rename the former Seahawks Stadium.

The deal is said to be a ten-year agreement with a five-year option. Revenue created by the agreement will be split between the team and the Washington State Public Stadium Authority which owns the stadium. The Authority's funds will be used for stadium maintenance and improvements.

As part of the arrangement, Qwest also reportedly has the rights to provide services to other ventures administered by Seahawks' owner Paul Allen.

The agreement makes the Seahawks the 17th team in the National Football League to play at a named facility. The team is actually the 18th if one counts the Miami Dolphins playing in Pro Player Stadium under a now-defunct deal as playing in a corporately named facility.

The deal was the 14th completed for a professional sports facility in the United States or Canada already in 2004.

Posted 7/04/2004

Bill Miller is Executive Vice President at The Leib Group, LLC in Mequon, Wisconsin. He is a regular contributor to Naming Rights Online and can be reached at bmiller@namingrightsonline.com