Canadian telecommunications company Rogers has reached a deal with Rexall Sports Corporation and Edmonton Oilers for the naming rights to the NHL ice hockey team’s new arena.
Rogers Place is set to open in 2016 and the agreement further strengthens Rogers’ relationship with the Oilers following the wide ranging 13-year sponsorship tie-up that was sealed in October.
That deal gives Rogers extensive branding opportunities at the team’s home games – where it leverages its extensive network and multi-platform content investments to enhance fan experience – while it is also the presenting sponsor of Oilers television broadcasts, the Oilers website and mobile app.
No financial details of the naming rights agreement were revealed, but Patrick LaForge, president and chief operating officer of the Oilers, said C$1m (€711,000/$966,000) annually is “not even in the ballpark.”
The naming rights agreement for Edmonton Oilers’ new C$480m home increases the company’s naming presence in its homeland, adding it to the Rogers Centre stadium in Toronto – home of the Toronto Blue Jays MLB baseball team – and Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, where the Oilers’ NHL counterparts Vancouver Canucks play.
It continues a busy period for Rogers, which last week struck a 12-year broadcast and multimedia rights agreement spanning 2014-15 to 2025-26 with the NHL, worth C$5.232bn, or an average of C$436m per season. The league described the agreement as “the largest media rights deal in NHL history”.