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January 19, 2007
Barclays Bank Gets Naming Rights to New Jersey Nets' Brooklyn Arena
The planned Brooklyn arena, future home of the New Jersey Nets, will be named the Barclays Center after British-based Barclays bank.
Rumor has it that the bank paid in excess of $300 million for naming rights, possibly even $400 million. However, Barclays PLC president Robert Diamond has said the exposure his bank will get in New York is well worth it as “Building our brand in the U.S. is very, very important to us."
The naming rights on this deal could pay for half the construction cost of the arena, which is billed as the most expensive in the country at $637.2 million.
The Brooklyn Record reported that "there are a lot of people out there who are already thinking up nasty nicknames for the place...but as far as arena names go, Barclays Center has kind of a nice ring to it."
The Barclays brand name does have an upscale sound to it. It could be worse, the Brooklyn Record added, "In a world where the poor Chicago White Sox have to play at U.S. Cellular Field, and the New England Patriots hold court in Gillette Stadium."
Technorati Tags: Brooklyn Arena, New Jersey Nets, Barclays Center, Barclays Bank, Naming Rights, Brand Name
Posted by William Lozito at January 19, 2007 10:02 AM
Posted to Brand Naming
| Naming
| Naming Rights
| Sports and Recreation
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Obviously, the Nets will no longer be the "New Jersey Nets" once they move to the new arena, but I wonder if they'll go back to being the New York Nets, or if they'll become the Brooklyn Nets.
As far as I'm concerned, "Barclays Center" is a sufficiently innocuous name, but I'll bet it isn't permanent. Once the contract is up, it could become the Dominoes Pizza Center or some other horrific name.