Patriots rename stadium for Gillette, no longer CMGI Stadium
FOXBORO, Mass., Aug 06, 2002 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) --
The New England Patriots have spent months pasting CMGI on every sign they could find at their new $325-million stadium.
Now, they've got 12 days to tear them down. The Patriots renamed their new home Gillette Stadium on Monday, less than two weeks before of its football debut, an Aug. 17 exhibition game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, instead of getting pitched CMGI cyberproperties like uBid.com and AltaVista, stadium-goers will be lathered up in the Gillette name.
Chief executive James Kilts said he anticipated the deal would lead to numerous crossover marketing opportunities for the Boston-based company's razors, toiletries and Duracell batteries.
Terms of the 15-year deal weren't disclosed, nor would officials say if it was comparable to the 15-year, $114-million deal signed with CMGI in 2000 to name the stadium CMGI Field.
"This is a three-party agreement that I think has worked in everyone's best interest," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said during a news conference at midfield.
The team gets a stable partner with deep local roots that will have no trouble paying its bills - CMGI lost $125.2 million last quarter, up from a loss of $988.5 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Gillette gets a steady stream of media hits and an association with the Super Bowl champions. Kilts harkened back to Gillette's history sponsoring boxing and baseball as a fundamental way it has connected with customers.
And CMGI gets out of a deal many questioned even at the time it was signed two years ago. At the time, CMGI shares traded at around $44. On Monday they closed at 40 cents.
"Right now with the business climate, overall we feel our capital is best placed in our core businesses," said Thomas Oberdorf, CMGI's chief financial officer.
Oberdorf would not give details of the negotiations leading to the name change, but said "the Patriots basically came to us. They had been speaking to Gillette."
CMGI got three months of the New England Revolution's Major League Soccer from its deal with the stadium, which opened in May. But the only football game played under the CMGI banner was the annual pre-season scrimmage between reporters.
The agreement is the latest example of the multibillion dollar stadium naming rights industry following the lead of the stock markets and showing a preference for more stable, traditional companies. The Baltimore Ravens renamed their field Ravens Stadium after its former corporate sponsor, PSINet went bankrupt. Enron Field in Houston became Minute Maid Park.
Dean Bonham, who negotiates naming deals for The Bonham Group, a Denver sports marketing firm, said the Patriots are a hot commodity, and called the deal a good one for all sides, though CMGI could have used the publicity.
"They just won the Super Bowl," he said of the Patriots. "They're moving into a brand-new state-of-the-art facility, they're clearly going to be in that community for the next 25 or 30 years, So the timing couldn't be better."
Gillette shares closed on Monday down $1.06, to $31.54 a share.
Kraft unveiled a new Gillette banner above the stadium Monday and the company's logo had already been painted at midfield. But he couldn't say how long it would take to change all the signs - including a string on nearby highways pointing the way to CMGI Field.
FOXBORO, Mass., Aug 06, 2002 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) --
The New England Patriots have spent months pasting CMGI on every sign they could find at their new $325-million stadium.
Now, they've got 12 days to tear them down. The Patriots renamed their new home Gillette Stadium on Monday, less than two weeks before of its football debut, an Aug. 17 exhibition game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, instead of getting pitched CMGI cyberproperties like uBid.com and AltaVista, stadium-goers will be lathered up in the Gillette name.
Chief executive James Kilts said he anticipated the deal would lead to numerous crossover marketing opportunities for the Boston-based company's razors, toiletries and Duracell batteries.
Terms of the 15-year deal weren't disclosed, nor would officials say if it was comparable to the 15-year, $114-million deal signed with CMGI in 2000 to name the stadium CMGI Field.
"This is a three-party agreement that I think has worked in everyone's best interest," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said during a news conference at midfield.
The team gets a stable partner with deep local roots that will have no trouble paying its bills - CMGI lost $125.2 million last quarter, up from a loss of $988.5 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Gillette gets a steady stream of media hits and an association with the Super Bowl champions. Kilts harkened back to Gillette's history sponsoring boxing and baseball as a fundamental way it has connected with customers.
And CMGI gets out of a deal many questioned even at the time it was signed two years ago. At the time, CMGI shares traded at around $44. On Monday they closed at 40 cents.
"Right now with the business climate, overall we feel our capital is best placed in our core businesses," said Thomas Oberdorf, CMGI's chief financial officer.
Oberdorf would not give details of the negotiations leading to the name change, but said "the Patriots basically came to us. They had been speaking to Gillette."
CMGI got three months of the New England Revolution's Major League Soccer from its deal with the stadium, which opened in May. But the only football game played under the CMGI banner was the annual pre-season scrimmage between reporters.
The agreement is the latest example of the multibillion dollar stadium naming rights industry following the lead of the stock markets and showing a preference for more stable, traditional companies. The Baltimore Ravens renamed their field Ravens Stadium after its former corporate sponsor, PSINet went bankrupt. Enron Field in Houston became Minute Maid Park.
Dean Bonham, who negotiates naming deals for The Bonham Group, a Denver sports marketing firm, said the Patriots are a hot commodity, and called the deal a good one for all sides, though CMGI could have used the publicity.
"They just won the Super Bowl," he said of the Patriots. "They're moving into a brand-new state-of-the-art facility, they're clearly going to be in that community for the next 25 or 30 years, So the timing couldn't be better."
Gillette shares closed on Monday down $1.06, to $31.54 a share.
Kraft unveiled a new Gillette banner above the stadium Monday and the company's logo had already been painted at midfield. But he couldn't say how long it would take to change all the signs - including a string on nearby highways pointing the way to CMGI Field.
