The Pittsburgh Steelers created an interesting mix of revenue and controversy when they changed their home stadium name from Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium this summer. Acrisure, an insurance brokerage firm in Michigan, is reported spends more than $10 million per year on the naming rights of the stadium. By comparison, Pittsburgh-based ketchup company Heinz previously paid an average of $2.85 million a year to be named to the Steelers’ house.
It looks like a divisional competitor may soon follow in the Steelers’ footsteps.
Every Josh Alper by Pro Football Talk, Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Cincinnati Bengals have notified city and county officials that they intend to sell the naming rights to Paul Brown Stadium as soon as possible. The Bengals, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are currently the only NFL teams that don’t have a naming rights agreement for their stadiums, but the Cincinnati Enquirer story claims the Bengals hope to change that before the season. coming to start in September.
Any revenue earned from a deal involving the name of the venue is likely to be paid for the reported $500 million renovations requested by Paul Brown Stadium.
Whatever the Bengalis are up to, recent history suggests they’d better be prepared for some backlash among die-hard fans who would insist they would never give up the name Paul Brown Stadium.
