November 16, 2007

A Glance at the December Issue of the Journal of Sports Economics: Questionable Benefits of Naming Rights

By Jason M. Breslow

Since the 1990s, an increasing number of professional sports teams, as well as many colleges, have sold the naming rights of their stadiums to private firms and, in one instance, to a for-profit university, the University of Phoenix (The Chronicle, September 27, 2006). Buyers say the deals provide them with greater visibility, which in turn leads to higher profits, and marketing research says they offer immediate returns