Sports Illustrated taps into unchartered territory with stadium naming rights deal
The New York Red Bulls' venue will now bare Sports Illustrated's name
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After being a household name for seven decades, Sports Illustrated is on a new venture.
Sports Illustrated Tickets and Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls announced that the team's 25,000-seat stadium will be rebranded as "Sports Illustrated Stadium."
The 13-year naming rights deal will begin in the 2025 season, and Sports Illustrated Tickets will become the official ticketing partner of the club.
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A general view of Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, during the Major League Soccer match between New York Red Bulls and New York City FC on July 17, 2022. (James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"It’s iconic. The history of these two iconic brands, and for the first time in our 70-year history that Sports Illustrated has had a stadium and what we can do together, we've been looking for this opportunity for a long time," Sports Illustrated Tickets CEO David Lane said in a recent interview with FOX Business.
Red Bulls team president Marc de Grandpré added, "It was important for us, as we were out in the market for naming rights, to find the right partner that had that same belief in elevating and differentiating the fan experience, and there's no better math between these two brands now. And this sort of felt really good, we share a lot of common values, and this will be groundbreaking not only for the organization, but most importantly for our fans and their experience at the stadium."
Lane said the fan experience with the new deal will be unlike any other — fans will get their own Sports Illustrated cover, and "Red" members will get access to Sports Illustrated events around the world.
A general view of Red Bull Arena prior to its grand opening on March 20, 2010, in Harrison, New Jersey. (Jonathan Fickies/Getty Images for New York Red Bulls / Getty Images)
As for the ticketing experience, all events at Sports Illustrated Stadium will be powered by "Box Office," Sports Illustrated Tickets' main blockchain event ticketing platform, beginning with the 2026 season, making the venue the first in major sports to use blockchain-based ticketing for all events. The goal is to improve fan interaction by turning event tickets into dynamic digital assets that provide unique benefits, customized material and more, resulting in an event experience that is genuinely next-generation.
Sports Illustrated Tickets launched in 2021 as the exclusive licensed operator of the Sports Illustrated brand in the live events vertical.
The partners will also focus on bringing concerts back to the stadium, rather than sticking to just sports, making it a multipurpose venue.
"It's really important for us to be able to program this building and ad and content for fans in the community, and it's part of the partnership and what we're going to bring to life together here," de Grandpré said. "We have Rufus del Sol coming next summer, and we're working on other concerts that we'll hopefully announce shortly and that snowball will keep growing and growing and getting bitter bigger and bigger, and it's going to become a fully integrated fan experience, not only for sports, but entertainment and the best experience in the New York area, for sure."
A general view of Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, prior to the Colossus Cup soccer match between Club America and Boca Juniors on July 3, 2019. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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"This is it, this is New York," added Lane. "This is the highest standard quality of an organization. This is where Sports Illustrated is going to show what we can do together with everything under one roof.
The Red Bulls lost to the LA Galaxy in the MLS Cup Final on Saturday, so hopefully a new era will bring the trophy home.
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