Source Reveals Slammers Stadium Naming Rights Revenue Deal

JOLIET, IL - Last month's surprise news of a stadium naming rights deal between the Joliet Slammers and the DuPage Medical Group has turned into an ongoing controversy at the city because of the cloud of secrecy. The financial terms of the long-term partnership were withheld. And yet the downtown baseball stadium is owned by the city's taxpayers.

On Thursday, a City Hall source told the Joliet Patch that the stadium naming rights agreement is believed to be six years. The value of the agreement with DuPage Medical Group is worth $750,000 over the life of the agreement, minus such things as maintenance expenses and other miscellaneous costs, the source explained.

The Joliet Slammers retain half of the revenue and the city of Joliet gets the other half of the naming rights revenue, the source indicated.

In a press release issued on June 5, interim city of Joliet manager Marty Shanahan explained, "We look forward to an in-person meeting with DuPage Medical Group to discuss the re-branding of the stadium and to share our ideas and concepts relative to the entrance of the stadium.

"In addition, since the payment of naming rights is made to the Slammers, I will ensure, after proper accounting, the city receives its fair share after deduction of expenses. DuPage Medical Group and the Slammers will both be a party to those discussions."

On Thursday, Joliet Patch contacted John Wilson, vice president of sales and marketing for the Joliet Slammers, about the financial terms of the naming rights deal with DuPage Medical Group.

Patch relayed to Wilson that a source indicated that the terms of the deal were six years in length, but Wilson declined to comment.

Wilson also declined to comment when asked about whether the grand total of the stadium naming rights deal for DuPage Medical Group was approximately $750,000.

Wilson maintained it's the standard practice of the Joliet Slammers to maintain confidentiality regarding all of their deals with corporate sponsors, which there are several, he explained.

At one point during the phone interview, Patch explained to Wilson that the stadium is owned by the taxpayers of Joliet and that the previous stadium naming rights deal involving Silver Cross Hospital was a matter of public record.

A past article in The Joliet Herald-News reported that the city had a 15-year contract between 2002 and 2017 with Silver Cross Hospital. The article indicated Silver Cross paid the city up to $150,000 per year, depending on attendance and a number of other factors.

The same holds true with Joliet's Memorial Stadium.

An October 2011 article in the Chicago Tribune opens with the following lead, "The Joliet Park District has signed a five-year, $70,000 a year corporate sponsorship with Bolingbrook-based ATI Physical Therapy for historic Joliet Memorial Stadium."

Anyway, the secrecy controversy involving the Joliet Slammers and the city-owned stadium has dominated the headlines in The Herald-News over the past few weeks and the topic isn't going away at City Hall. The city subsidized more than $2 million in stadium renovations, including the installation of FieldTurf, prior to the 2018 season.

The topic of the stadium naming rights is back on the agenda for next Tuesday's June 18 meeting of the city of Joliet Stadium Committee. The members of the committee include city councilmen Mike Turk, Pat Mudron and Jan Quillman.

The meeting, which is open to the public, begins at 4:30 p.m. and it's inside the second floor Executive Conference Room at Joliet's City Hall.

The Slammers current home stand continues Friday, Saturday and Sunday with games against the Washington Wild Things. For more information, visit the website for Joliet Slammers here.

About DuPage Medical Group

According to the stadium naming rights press release, DuPage Medical Group (DMG) is the largest independent, multi-specialty physician group in Illinois with more than 730 primary care and specialty care physicians in over 100 suburban Chicago locations. For more information, visit www.dupagemedicalgroup.com.