New Names Possible For Pittsburgh's PNC Park, Heinz Field

PITTSBURGH, PA - What’s in a name? Plenty of money for professional sports teams auctioning off naming rights to their stadiums - a fact that could provide upcoming financial windfalls for the Pirates and Steelers.

PNC Park and Heinz Field are approaching their 20th birthdays in 2021 and nearing the end of their original naming rights deals. Those agreements pay the teams a relative pittance compared to what companies pay today to put their names on a sports venue.

In 1998, PNC agreed to pay the Pirates $1.5 million annually through the 2020 season. In 2001, Heinz signed an agreement with the Steelers that pays the team $2.85 million a year through 2021.

The teams likely will be looking for considerably more money in their next deals, according to Kristi Dosh, a sports business analyst who was ESPN’s first female sports business reporter. Dosh said the market for naming rights deals has changed significantly over the past two decades.

“Currently, naming rights deals in MLB average $5.2 million annually, and NFL deals average $8.09 million,” she said. “More recent naming rights deals in cities like Milwaukee tell us naming rights are still incredibly valuable to companies looking to increase exposure and name recognition.”

The Brewers are one of three Major League Baseball teams that recently found new naming rights purchasers. The San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners this season respectively renamed their stadiums Oracle and T-Mobile Park; the Brewers next year will rename their venue American Family Insurance Park.

The name changes occurred after MillerCoors, AT&T and Safeco Insurance all declined to renew naming rights agreements for the three ballparks.

Though the amounts paid for the naming rights were not disclosed by the teams or companies, Oracle’s deal with the Giants reportedly will cost $200 million over 20 years. T-Mobile’s arrangement with the Mariners reportedly will cost $87.5 million over 25 years, while the AFI’s agreement with the Brewers has been estimated at $50 million over 15 years.

In the NFL, Social Finance, a private lending company, last month reached agreement on a naming rights deal for the new Los Angeles stadium that will be home to the Rams and Chargers. The reported price tag: $400 million over 20 years.

That $20 million annual figure is an outlier, as the stadium will be home to two NFL teams in one of the league’s largest markets. But the Steelers probably will seek a naming rights deal that matches or exceeds their AFC North Division Rivals that have them.

Two of the other three teams in the division have such agreements: the Cleveland Brownsreceive $7 million a year from First Energy, and the Baltimore Ravens get $6 million annually from M&T Bank. The Cincinnati Bengals play in Paul Brown Stadium, named after the team’s founder.

Dosh said it’s not too soon for the Pirates and Steelers to be thinking about their upcoming stadium name sales.

“I would certainly think both the Pirates and Steelers have begun identifying potential naming rights partners and developing strategies around their approach and offerings, “ she said. “I would imagine the Pirates may already be having those conversations, but the Steelers may still be in the planning and strategizing stage.”

Pirates spokesman Jim Trdinich said he was unaware of any active negotiations taking place. The Steelers did not respond to a request for comment.

While PNC and Heinz could decide to pay more money to keep their names on the stadiums, the recent name changes in Milwaukee, San Francisco and Seattle suggest that is not a certainty.

Given the benefits of having a name assigned to a stadium, Dosh believes the teams won’t lack bidders.

“In just the first six weeks of the MLB season, naming rights sponsors racked up an average of $12.3 million in exposure, according to a study by Joyce Julius & Associates, while only paying an average of $5.2 million annually,” she said. “For a company that wants to increase its exposure, strengthen its branding and name recognition, naming rights deals are a cost-effective way to be present in the media, social media and throughout the community on a regular basis.”

If not PNC or Heinz, two of Pittsburgh’s dueling health care providers might be interested in bidding on the stadium rights.

UPMC already has its logo on the U.S. Steel Building; it also has affixed its name to the recently opened UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris University and the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse at Duquesne University.

Highmark, which is affiliated with the Allegheny Health Network, has the naming rights to the Station Square stadium where the Pittsburgh Riverhounds play.

Pittsburgh is home to seven Fortune 500 companies, including Kraft Heinz, PNC and PPG, which currently own the naming rights to the city’s largest sports venues. Any of the remaining four - U.S. Steel, Alcoa, Dick’s Sporting Goods and WESCO International - could be interested in bidding on the rights.

“The media exposure is enormous,“ Dosh said.” the key is finding a company with ties to Pittsburgh who needs the exposure and name recognition the way the Brewers worked out a new deal with American Family Insurance.”