Sports and Economics: Booming Naming Rights Market

In my American Sport in the 21st Century Class we talked about how sports and economics work together for a respective product. We talked about how money has become the foundation for sports

Dallas Cowboys Stadium was built in 2009. AT&T bought
the naming rights for the stadium in 2013.

at all levels, but why is it back in 2010 when new stadiums were built like AT&T stadium and MetLife Stadium they had no corporate sponsors to fund them what so ever. These stadiums cost $1.3billion to build and they were the most advanced stadiums at the time, but instead of being called "AT&T Stadium" or "MetLife Stadium" they were called "Dallas Cowboys Stadium" and "New Meadowlands Stadium". In an article wrote by Terry Lefton on February 22nd, 2016 for the Sports Business Journal he discusses how the market for corporate names is booming more now than ever and how the market wasn't as big in 2010. In the article Lefton quotes Van Wagner, a Sports and Entertainment president, who says that essentially naming rights have been reborn in the sports world. CEO's and Presidents of many companies around the world say that naming rights back in 2010 were non-existent due to the recession that happened in 2008. No company wanted to spend too much money on an arena or stadium because it was too risky at the time. Now we are seeing stadiums obtain corporate sponsors before they are even built. The Minnesota Vikings new stadium already has U.S. Bank as they're corporate sponsor and Mercedes-Benz is sponsoring the Atlanta Braves new stadium that will be built by 2017. These sponsors help the sports world tremendously because as we discussed in class profit motive shapes owners and athletes. The sports world is growing faster than we know it and that is great for many future sports managers. You can read Lefton's full article here:
 http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2016/02/22/In-Depth/Naming-Rights.aspx

LeBron's Social Media

LeBron is receiving backlash after unfollowing the
Cleveland Cavaliers

Everyone is making a huge fuss about LeBron unfollowing the Cleveland Cavaliers on Twitter and Instagram. No one seems to understand that LeBron does this every year around playoff time. Even when he was on the Miami Heat he would unfollow them because it kept his mind on the game. Reporters are blowing this situation way out of proportion. It always seems as if ESPN wants a news story about LeBron and lately all ESPN does is put LeBron in a bad light. Now LeBron is my favorite athlete. I've been a diehard Cleveland fan ever since I was born and I will defend LeBron and his actions no matter what. Even though I hated the man when he left for Miami, I loved him when he came back because he s determined to bring a championship to the hardworking city of Cleveland, OH. An athlete hasn't been this determined to win a championship for this city since Bernie Kosar when he played quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the 1980's. Cleveland is on the rise and people better watch out.