Kevin Kane Says Los Angeles Stadium Sponsors Could Lose $134.8 Million
Los Angeles Stadium naming-rights sponsors are projected to lose up to $134.8 million in global media exposure during the World Cup because FIFA requires los angeles stadium venues to be stripped of commercial branding. Navigate says that hit is conservative, and at least six brands are on track to give up the equivalent of their average annual naming-rights payment.
Kevin Kane On Exposure Loss
Kevin Kane, Navigate vice president of international consulting, said the biggest hit is not coming from what is seen on television screens. "so the value loss is not driven by visible stadium signs on television" he said, adding that the projections take into account "the recent Nielsen methodology changes."
Navigate projected that naming-rights sponsors to U.S. stadiums hosting FIFA World Cup matches could lose as much as $53.5 million in domestic media value and up to $134.8 million globally. Kane said the majority of the lost value will come from the absence of the naming-rights partner in on-air verbal references, social media posts, digital content, news coverage, highlight packages and other earned media.
MetLife Stadium And AT&T
MetLife Stadium will host eight World Cup matches, including the final, and Navigate projected that its naming-rights partner will lose nearly $20 million of worldwide media exposure. MetLife pays an annual average of $18.5 million to the MetLife Stadium Co. for its 25-year naming-rights deal, and Kane said, "While the NFL naming-rights agreement includes many additional assets beyond media exposure — including signage, tickets and other activation rights — we do not think it is unreasonable to view the World Cup inventory as representing roughly one-third [$5.9M to $7.9M] of the annual U.S. value associated with the current naming-rights package."
MetLife Stadium could generate slightly more than 100 million U.S. television viewers from its eight World Cup matches. Navigate estimated that the World Cup inventory there represents roughly one-third of the annual U.S. value tied to the current naming-rights package, a share that shows how much of the deal’s media value is concentrated in the tournament window.
AT&T will forgo approximately $18 million in exposure, nearly the average annual cost of its stadium naming-rights deal with the Dallas Cowboys. Mercedes-Benz is the only naming-rights partner whose primary headquarters are not based in the U.S., and its North American operations are 15 miles from the stadium in Atlanta that bears its name.
Fox, Telemundo, And Stadium Names
Fox and Telemundo will refer to the stadiums by their FIFA-designated, city-specific names during the tournament, while.com lists the venues with their branded names. Navigate focused primarily on earned media, social media, and broadcast exposure from past World Cups, and Kane said FIFA data shows that host countries typically see a 50% increase in viewer numbers.
We project a 30-40% increase from 2022’s almost 26 million viewers, but we could even see finals viewership hit 50 million. That is the audience pool determining how much naming-rights value gets stripped away when the commercial names disappear from the tournament’s official presentation.
