Naming Rights for The Palace – Possible Corporate Sponsorship

by | Oct 4, 2011 | 6 comments

It’s not like I didn’t see this one coming as soon as Tom Gores took over the team and The Palace of Auburn Hills. One of the last privately owned arenas is about to get a corporate sponsor.

I’m a bit sad to see the building become branded by some corporate sponsor, and I refuse to call the building The Office Depot Palace or something ridiculous like that (I still call Pine Knob…Pine Knob).

However, I can’t fault the man for trying to get money out of his investment. It’s not like the Pistons are raking in loads of cash these days.

Via Crain’s Detroit

The new owner of The Palace of Auburn Hills wants to sell the naming rights to the arena, according to a report.

The Los Angeles-based sports marketing and talent management firm Wasserman Media Group has been hired to broker a naming-rights deal for the Detroit Pistons’ home, according to an online story from the trade magazine Sports Business Journal Daily.

The outlet estimated a deal could be worth $2.5 million to $3 million annually.

The effort to find a corporate naming-rights deal comes after private equity billionaire Tom Gores bought The Palace, the Pistons and the management company Palace Sports & Entertainment Inc. for $325 million in June. That deal also included DTE Energy Music Theatre and the contract to manage Meadow Brook Music Festival for Oakland University.

A committee of executives from Gores’ Los Angeles-based Platinum Equity LLC oversees the business operations of PS&E, which operates The Palace. Former Los Angeles Dodgers executive Dennis Mannion was recently hired to as PS&E’s president.

“We’re not in this to get a bunch of money for a building name,” Mannion told Sport Business Journal. “But if we can get a deal that improves our fan experience and drives revenues, that’s where we want to go. We want a marketer that will bring novel execution.”

A deal could be with one company or several.

“Our job is evaluating what we can do to help augment the fan experience, but that could end with a recommendation for several sponsors instead of one big one,” John Brody, a Wasserman principal who heads its partnership and business development division, was quoted as saying.

6 Comments

  1. Minibeast

    Go Tigers!

    Reply
  2. George

    I never really care what an arena is called, it just doesn’t matter to me.

    Reply
  3. leonelreo

    Singler, nominated best player in the first game of the spanish league.

    I didn’t see the game, but he made big numbers. 23 points, 6/10 shoots converted, including 1/4 3p shoots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists 1 steal and 7 faults received.

    Sorry if my English is not good. Here, the new in spanish:

    http://www.acb.com/redaccion.php?id=79455

    Reply
  4. Colin

    During the 50th season in Detroit a few years back, I went on a Palace tour. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but it was the fact that the name could never be changed. I remember her saying, “It will never be called Rock’s Palace”. Why is it that now the name can be sold?!

    Reply
  5. minimaster

    Now games through november are cancelled, at least we have the lions

    Reply

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