Cowboys set for AT&T naming rights deal – report

NFL American football franchise the Dallas Cowboys are close to agreeing a stadium naming rights deal with telecommunications company AT&T, according to US news sources.

The Cowboys’ $1.2bn (€923m) stadium opened four years ago but has remained under the Cowboys Stadium name as team officials have struggled to broker a suitable deal amidst the economic downturn.

Fox Sports Southwest said that the Cowboys and AT&T have been in talks throughout this period, with a possible deal having once centred on a $25m-per-year fee.

However, recent NFL naming rights developments, such as the San Francisco 49ers’ 20-year, $220.3m contract with Levi Strauss, is said to have “re-set” the framework for conversations. A source said that the naming rights deal with AT&T will come into effect for the 2014 NFL season.

Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan said that the two sides are “in the process of reaching” an agreement. Cowboys vice-president Stephen Jones did not deny the reports, but has stressed that a deal had not yet been agreed.

“We’ve been pretty close to done on many things,” Jones said. “We’ve always been involved in naming rights, but I think that’s way premature to be saying anything like that.”