Naming rights
Names are a fundamental part of our personalities, business, venue, place as well as stadiums. The name suggests more of a place and the perception of a person, place, and business by the people dwell on the name. Therefore, choosing a name needs much consideration as well as evaluation of various factors. This paper seeks to find an organization to collaborate financially with the University of Oregon and have naming rights to Autzen stadium, a stadium that has been popular and recognized by many for 43 years. Since the name has been well established, the paper seeks to address how to deal with various concerns that may arise because of it. Moreover, the paper will address the identification of the ideal prospect company or organization for purchasing the naming rights while explaining why the company would be willing to collaborate with the University of Oregon in financial resource investment. The paper also gives a brief definition of the naming right.
Naming rights are defined as the “financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility for a defined period.” Further, it asserts that the main aim for these naming rights is that the buyer gets a marketing property to promote products and services, promote customer relations and increase the market.
Challenges
As mentioned in the introduction the name of the stadium is well known for the past 43 years. This is a challenge both to the university and to the prospective company. However, as the assistant general manager my role is to find well-established companies that have great influence, and are affiliated to people of high caliber, who are well known, are a mentor to many as well as have a great influencing power. This will help in the transformation of a well-established name that has the added advantage of being affiliated with a well-known person of high caliber.
The company to get the naming right to this well-established stadium should also have a good advertising geographical coverage through the media that will influence the people once they are mandated the naming rights. Similarly, the concerns of the prospective company may include how to deal with people who may oppose the exchange of the naming rights, what impacts their name will have to the stadium and the uncertainties that would arise if the new name of the stadium makes it lose its popularity. These concerns need to be addressed in a way that will convince the company that there will be no risks in undertaking the naming rights of the stadium. For the concern of the opposition, as the assistant general manager, I have to convince the company that the stadium is owned by the university. All the bodies concerned with the management of the stadium as well as the student bodies have agreed on changing the naming rights, which will give the company the evidence over that risk. On the impact of their name to the stadium that also includes the popularity of the stadium, as the assistant general manager, I would give them a platform on which we can debate and have a memorandum of understanding. This has to involve the respective university boards as well as the representative from the company. The MOU would be made simple for the two parties to accept it. The company may also have concerns about the cost of changing the stadium name. Naming costs a company millions of dollars to change the corporate images on the signage in sports facilities as well as the changeover costs. Lowering the cost of the lease of the naming rights should be addressed.
Identification of the company and the benefits associated with the lease of the naming right to the company
One of the prospective companies that I would choose is Toyota Motors. During the identification of the company, the key factors to put into consideration are the financial stability of the company, the popularity of the company as well as the perception of the people towards that company. Moreover, one should have known the number of sports stadiums that the company has. The main reason for identifying Toyota is its popularity as well as the financial stability of the company. Toyota motors were ranked among the 2011 top ten world companies and well known in almost all countries. At the same time, the perception of the company to most people is good.
The reasons for Toyota motor’s willingness to collaborate with the University of Oregon should be due to the expanded stadium that can hold a large number of people as well as having good recreation places as well as being the center for college sports. This would help the company to reach a wide market as they use the stadium scoreboards and other stadium sections according to the agreement for advertisement. The success of the football team would also boost the marketing of the company especially if there would be kit agreement that should bear the Toyota motors name as well as their logo. The 78 sellouts of the club will also boost the performance of the company through the change of stadium name. In conclusion, the aligning of the Toyota motors company with Oregon’s football program will be of great importance to the company as well as the club.