PHIL STAR:
It’s not been officially announced but it’s all over the papers, television and all forms of media: the fabled Araneta Coliseum will be known as the SMART Araneta Coliseum at least for five years starting, this Saturday, July 23 when the biggest professional basketball extravaganza, the Ultimate All-Star Weekend, kicks off at the Big Dome.
The renaming of Araneta Coliseum into the SMART Araneta Coliseum is known in sports business parlance as a “naming rights deal”.
Naming rights are essentially financial deals that allow a corporation (in this case, SMART) or for-profit entities to attach its name to a public assembly facility, usually a sports stadium, for a period of time ranging from three to 20 years. By entering into a naming rights deal, SMART gets a property to promote its products and services, strengthen brand reputation and goodwill, enhance name recall and several other benefits (without the headache of running the stadium) that ultimately should lead to increased market share and profits.
For Araneta Coliseum, the naming rights transaction will increase its capacity to make available the Big Dome to as many activities as possible thus rendering public service to the community. It is also a response to the competition offered by other property developers who have chosen to invade the public assembly facility business.
Reliable sources within Araneta state that the partnership with SMART will provide the Big Dome with resources over the next five years (the term of the naming rights deal which is renewable for a similar period at the option of the two parties) to upgrade the venue that hosted the Flash Elorde-Harold Gomes world junior lightweight title fight in March 1960, among many other historic events. The last time the Coliseum underwent major renovation was in 1998-1999.
The first priority of the Araneta management is to improve access to the upper box and general admission by installing the most modern and efficient escalators. A 2000-car parking lot will also be constructed as an added convenience to spectators.
To be sure, this is not the first time that the Araneta Group of Companies has entertained the idea of entering into a naming rights deal with commercial enterprises. Late in 1998, the Group came very close to completing a naming rights transaction with Shell Philippines.
During our discussions with Shell around the third quarter of 1998, when we were associated with the Araneta Group of Companies, the oil company had already agreed to the terms and conditions of a 10-year naming rights deal. We spent many hours with then Shell executives Oscar Reyes and Rey Gamboa to craft a mutually beneficial agreement. Shell had even sent structural engineers to the Coliseum to certify to the structural integrity of the edifice. Shell Philippines had already secured the approval of head office to enter into a deal which was the first ever naming rights transaction in the long history of the oil multinational.
CONTINUE READING FROM ORIGINAL [SOURCE]
Information Courtesy of Phil Star / SPORTS FOR ALL By Philip Ella Juico
If You Like This Kapuso Post, Click Here To Subscribe Via Email
