$50 million is a lot of money for a name nobody will use
Not a bad deal
West Shore Homes has - apparently - stumbled across $50 million to buy the naming rights to Beaver Stadium for the next 15 years [until 2039].
There is some public uncertainty in regards to the sequencing of the gift - Pat Kraft gave a quote that made it sound like West Shore Homes would be paying out the $50 million for longer than the naming rights deal - but until there is clarity on that front, we can work with the two big numbers $50 million and 15 years. Kraft says the deal is front loaded to help pay for some of the stadium renovations and reduce lending needs but even at just a per year payout that’s $3.3 million.
You can read the supporting materials from Penn State’s board meeting here.
So in any case, welcome to West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium.
I suppose on some level it’s a sad day for purest football fans who have come to appreciate stadiums known for their *maiden* names and not some corporate overlord. At the same time, the biggest thing Penn State probably wanted to really avoid with Beaver Stadium was slapping a big Coke logo on the side of the building that was going to need to be removed like Saddam Hussein in the town square one day down the road.
Because for as much as Penn State is going to be contractually forced to ram “West Shore Home Field” down everyone’s throats, the name everyone uses is still going to be Beaver Stadium. And aside from maybe a few field markers, nobody is going to think much about it after the first season of listening to broadcasters try and remember to add “West Shore Home Field” to everything they say.
From the money perspective, the following is a good service for reference points across the market. This link is allegedly going to behind a paywall soon, but I grabbed a few of note for posterity and posted them below.
Per the SBJ Sports Facility Naming Rights Directory
Some of the highest collegiate related stadiums shown as total years, per year, total value.
Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field [Georgia Tech]
Mountain America Stadium [Arizona State]
Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium [Washington]
Huntington Bank Stadium [Minnesota]
Rutgers and Maryland’s respective stadiums.
All told, it’s the cost of doing business. There’s too much money needing to be spent and too much money needing to be raised to turn down $50 million in exchange for using a name nobody is going to use.
I mentioned in an earlier version of this story that WSH was the same group that gave kids Teslas but that was Inch and Co - a different home building brand.
Some slightly off-the-record context here.
Penn State says it’s a 10 million over 10 year deal, and a 40 million over 15 year deal running concurrently. A quote from Pat Kraft floating around made it sound like something else.