Sporting Kansas City’s new stadium has a name: Livestrong Sporting Park.
It’s unique, writes Terez A. Paylor. No stadiums or arenas in any ofthe four major North American professional sports — NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA or NHL– are named after a charity, and no Major League Soccer stadiums are as well. Livestrong, founded bycyclist Lance Armstrong, has raised more than $400 million for cancer research since 1997.
Livestrong will not pay for naming rights, but rather the club’s ownerswere willing to donate a portion of all stadium revenues — a minimum of $7.5 million over six years — to fund the nonprofit’s effort to fight cancer.
The hope is that bypartnering with Armstrong, who has the ear of several popular musical artists, the club can easily recoup, through concerts, the estimated $2 million to $3 million a year it gave up by giving away thestadium’s naming rights.