Blue56
01-09-2005, 03:02 PM
FleetCenter (http://www.sportsline.com/general/story/8073481)
BOSTON -- The search for a new name for the FleetCenter will begin in earnest after Bank of America Corp. agreed to give up the arena naming rights it inherited with the acquisition of FleetBoston Financial Corp.
Bank of America and the arena's owner, Delaware North Cos., announced an agreement Wednesday that will allow the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank to get out of the final six years of the 15-year, $30 million naming rights deal.
Financial terms of the deal were not released, but a source familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Bank of America would pay around $3 million to get out of the deal.
The announcement comes four months after the companies had nearly completed a deal that would have put the Bank of America name on the 10-year-old building in downtown Boston. The bank had even test-marketed prospective arena names and measured for new signs.
But Bank of America spokesman Joe Goode said the deal collapsed over the summer, when the nation's No. 3 financial services company began changing its marketing priorities after reaching a five-year deal to become "The Official Bank of Baseball," with involvement in everything from Major League Baseball to Little League tournaments.
"We were really recasting and redirecting our marketing priorities, and at the end of the day this just didn't fit in to those priorities," Goode said Wednesday.
The bank and Delaware North also were unable to agree to financial terms, Goode said.
The FleetCenter, which replaced the legendary Boston Garden in 1995, is home to the NBA's Boston Celtics and the NHL's Boston Bruins and also hosted last summer's Democratic National Convention.
The agreement calls for the 19,600-seat arena to continue carrying the FleetCenter name until Oct. 14. The name could change before that if Delaware North, which also owns the Bruins, can find a a new naming rights partner before that deadline.
Bank of America closed on its $48 billion acquisition of FleetBoston in April and picked up the arena naming rights as part of the deal.
Richard Krezwick, president and chief executive of Delaware North, said his company has been in touch with about a dozen potential naming rights sponsors but is still finalizing its offering price and its plans to market to potential sponsors.
About half of those dozen potential partners are locally based and half are from outside the region, he said. He declined to identify any potential suitors.
Krezwick said he hoped to have a deal completed by June.
BOSTON -- The search for a new name for the FleetCenter will begin in earnest after Bank of America Corp. agreed to give up the arena naming rights it inherited with the acquisition of FleetBoston Financial Corp.
Bank of America and the arena's owner, Delaware North Cos., announced an agreement Wednesday that will allow the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank to get out of the final six years of the 15-year, $30 million naming rights deal.
Financial terms of the deal were not released, but a source familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Bank of America would pay around $3 million to get out of the deal.
The announcement comes four months after the companies had nearly completed a deal that would have put the Bank of America name on the 10-year-old building in downtown Boston. The bank had even test-marketed prospective arena names and measured for new signs.
But Bank of America spokesman Joe Goode said the deal collapsed over the summer, when the nation's No. 3 financial services company began changing its marketing priorities after reaching a five-year deal to become "The Official Bank of Baseball," with involvement in everything from Major League Baseball to Little League tournaments.
"We were really recasting and redirecting our marketing priorities, and at the end of the day this just didn't fit in to those priorities," Goode said Wednesday.
The bank and Delaware North also were unable to agree to financial terms, Goode said.
The FleetCenter, which replaced the legendary Boston Garden in 1995, is home to the NBA's Boston Celtics and the NHL's Boston Bruins and also hosted last summer's Democratic National Convention.
The agreement calls for the 19,600-seat arena to continue carrying the FleetCenter name until Oct. 14. The name could change before that if Delaware North, which also owns the Bruins, can find a a new naming rights partner before that deadline.
Bank of America closed on its $48 billion acquisition of FleetBoston in April and picked up the arena naming rights as part of the deal.
Richard Krezwick, president and chief executive of Delaware North, said his company has been in touch with about a dozen potential naming rights sponsors but is still finalizing its offering price and its plans to market to potential sponsors.
About half of those dozen potential partners are locally based and half are from outside the region, he said. He declined to identify any potential suitors.
Krezwick said he hoped to have a deal completed by June.