Do any Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway companies have naming rights to stadiums?

[GON]

I struggle to understand why companies like ATT, American Airlines, etc pay for the naming rights to professional sport stadiums. The two mention companies have huge debt loads. In fact, American Airlines has started to sell some of its 78x series and lease the aircraft back in a move I suspect to raise capital.

It is reasonable to assume nobody selects att for their cell phone because of names rights to the cowboy's stadium. Same could be said for American Airlines.

I understand the naming rights for a startup company, and maybe a company that needs attention for some reason. But oligopolies?

Then I wondered, does Berkshire Hathaway companies, firms that likely have zero net debt, pay for naming rights to stadiums?

 

[skyactiv]

Berkshire owns Benjamin Moore, naming a popular team stadium the Benjamin Moore Paints stadium/arena would bring brand awareness to that paint brand. I agree no one is selecting ATT for their cell service or booking flights on American Airlines because they have stadium naming rights.

 

[GON]

Berkshire owns Benjamin Moore, naming a popular team stadium the Benjamin Moore Paints stadium/arena would bring brand awareness to that paint brand. I agree no one is selecting ATT for their cell service or booking flights on American Airlines because they have stadium naming rights.

Thanks for posting this. I did a quick search on Benjamin Moore and came across this surprising statistic. Seems Benjamin Moore executive compensation is significantly different than many other CEOs.

At Benjamin Moore, the most compensated executive makes $430,000, annually, and the lowest compensated makes $57,000

 

[captainbeandip]

At least it still makes sense for companies like ATT and American Airlines to advertise.

Near me is the "Xcel Energy Center" hockey arena. Xcel Energy is the electricity and natural gas utility of the area. What is the point of them doing any advertising? They are a monopoly. People don't have a choice weather they get them for their electricity or natural gas service or not.

Someone at the company must have decided they had too much money is all I can think of.

 

[wwillson]

At least it still makes sense for companies like ATT and American Airlines to advertise.

Brand awareness. If companies stop advertising, they will die. Walmart advertises, who thinks anyone in the US doesn't know about Walmart? They advertise to put their company name in your mind. Do I go to Target or Walmart? Hmmm, I don't know why I'm thinking about Walmart, but I'm going there. What you may not realized is that "Walmart" popped into your consciousness because you saw a Walmart ad yesterday. Advertising works.

 

[wpod]

Lots of corporations live on cash flow { have few assets]

 

[Hall]

Look at most football jerseys around the world in different leagues - almost all have 1-2 "sponsors" on them. Look at race cars, whether F1, NASCAR, Indy, etc - they are all covered in brand's logos.

Or explain this one: In southwest Ohio, literally every high school sports (outdoor) facility has naming rights. I know for the school's side, they get $$$ and quite often medical staff (in the cases where it's a hospital network that bought the naming rights, which seem to be the most popular). What does the hospital get out of it ? We don't really get to pick what hospital we go to because of "in-network" requirements.

 

[John105]

Look at most football jerseys around the world in different leagues - almost all have 1-2 "sponsors" on them. Look at race cars, whether F1, NASCAR, Indy, etc - they are all covered in brand's logos.

Or explain this one: In southwest Ohio, literally every high school sports (outdoor) facility has naming rights. I know for the school's side, they get $$$ and quite often medical staff (in the cases where it's a hospital network that bought the naming rights, which seem to be the most popular). What does the hospital get out of it ? We don't really get to pick what hospital we go to because of "in-network" requirements.

It's a shame. I'm so old I think that the Olympic games should be for amateurs. I can't stand how advertisements are superimposed on dasher boards and the ice when televised. Why, I even think that umpires, toll booth attendants, and truck drivers, should have jobs and are better than machines.

All kidding aside I see this term more and more......"NIL portfolio." So why shouldn't my son have one with CCM? His gear is a total advertisement for them (I realized this when he was dressing, the logo is so prominent on every piece of their gear), so I decided we'd switch it up to a Bauer helmet and True stick and gloves when he needed them.

Anyway with naming rights, there's no hard ROI, is there? I think it's just "prominence."

 

[97prizm]

If a sports team is raking in the cash, selling out, and booking big concert venues then in theory American Airlines or whomever has their name on the building should be making a decent paycheck. They should have financial analysts look at the cost benefits and see if it's actually worth it. I know that the Denver Broncos stadium is considered "cursed " as at least two or three companies with sponsorship went bankrupt. It was invesco field and then empower field, not sure what it is now that the Bowlen family sold it for an insane amount of money.

 

[k1xv]

Olympic champion Jean Claude Killy had an endorsement deal with Head skis. He would sometimes "inadvertently" hold his skis in Olympic interviews so that the trademarks could be seen, Avery Brundage threatened to disqualify him from the "amateur" Olympics as being a professional advertisement for ski equipment.

 

[SC Maintenance]

In paying to have your name on a stadium you get your name "advertised" multiple times every time a televised event is held there. Its akin to a TV commercial at that point. "welcome back to american airlilnes stadium" You also then get exposure to radio and local awareness of the same type. I am not saying it makes sense, but as far as advertising of any kind makes sense - its similar.

Geico is owned by Berkshire and advertises a ton - including TV. I think a lot of these stadium naming rights go back many years.

I agree a public utility makes no sense to advertise.

 

[eljefino]

I remember a NASCAR race on FOX where Fox shook down the naming-rights-company to be mentioned on TV. Company ignored them so Fox just called it "Nascar from town-name, state" for the entire race.

 

[y_p_w]

GEICO has several sponsorships although I don’t think any are naming rights to stadiums/arenas. Sometimes just areas within stadiums or other naming rights.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.c...cc-championship-game-geico-presenting-sponsor
https://racer.com/2024/09/20/geico-to-end-nascar-sponsorship-at-seasons-end/
https://www.ncaa.org/news/2024/3/6/media-center-ncaa-geico-announce-new-corporate-partnership.aspx

The field at a big high school football stadium in Texas has DQ naming rights, although that was supposedly the doing of a local franchisee and not corporate.

This doesn’t quite scream corporate branding, but it is that DQ.

BNSF paid for naming rights for the National Juneteenth Museum.

https://dallasinnovates.com/fort-worth-based-bnsf-railway-donates-2m-to-national-juneteenth-museum/

Duracell has several sponsorships like in F1.

Russell Athletic sponsored a bowl game, and they were owned by Fruit of the Loom which was then owned by Berkshire Hathaway.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...thletic-new-sponsor-former-champs-sports-bowl