Suns, Mercury Seek Arena Naming Rights Deal After Footprint Exits
The Footprint Center, where the Suns and the Mercury play their home games, will have a new name next year as the naming rights contract has been reworked. Player 15 Group, the parent company for the Suns and Mercury, will handle the naming rights negotiations internally and expects to name a new partner before the 2025-2026 NBA season.
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Footprint, based in Gilbert, Ariz., will remain a team partner but at a lower level of sponsorship. The arena-rights deal began in 2021. The new partner will be the fourth title sponsor for the 18,000-seat, multi-purpose arena that opened in 1992.
'I expect for us to command significant investment based on the major events that are coming here and that will continue to come here,' executive vice president and chief revenue officer Dan Costello said in a phone interview. 'As long as we have things like All-Star games, tourism and impact from a population growth perspective, this will be a place where brands want to align.'
Player 15 Group looks to capitalize on a healthier market than in the last round of rights negotiations, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The arena, which hosted the WNBA All-Star Game last year, is preparing to host the 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four and 2027 NBA All Star Weekend, which will be the fourth All-Star game the city has hosted.
The hunt for a new partner comes during a busy time for United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia, who bought the team for a record $4 billion from ex-Western Alliance chairman Robert Sarver two years ago. Ishbia has been busy since, investing another $100 million to build a new Mercury practice facility and team headquarters downtown that opened last summer. Last year, the Suns also introduced its new G League team, the Valley Suns, the third pro team under the Player Group 15 umbrella.
The rise of the WNBA, coupled with increased impressions from both local and national TV broadcasts, positions the parent company to ink a larger naming rights deal than the one with Footprint. The arena is also hosting roughly 40 more events annually, according to Costello.
'It's rare that you have a sports team under new ownership with all these things in our favor,' he said. 'We felt like it was a great opportunity to go into the marketplace. We feel like we're going to have incredible interest.'
The financial terms of the original deal are unclear, but it was reported that Footprint signed a 10-year pact worth roughly $9 million per season. The deal still includes integration of Footprint's products including plant-fiber technology, compost containers, among other things.
Footprint, which will remain as the official sustainability partner of the Suns and Mercury, has reevaluated its sports-related investments after it saw its valuation drop nearly 38% when its planned merger with SPAC Gores Holding VII unraveled in 2022, preventing the company from going public.
Footprint announced its partnership during the Suns' appearance in the 2021 NBA Finals, replacing Talking Stick Resorts. The partnership was inked under Sarver's ownership.
(This story has been updated in the first paragraph to clarify that the change was not sudden, as Footprint has been reevaluating its presence for some time.)
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