Shipping giant FedEx is relinquishing its naming rights to FedEx Field, the Landover stadium and concert venue where the Washington Commanders play home games. This opt-out came two years before the end of a 27-year, $205 million deal, and will cost the NFL team roughly $15 million in revenue.
In a statement, the Commanders said they are already looking for a new naming-rights partner for the stadium. Yesterday, the team’s official website renamed its stadium tab “Commanders Field.” As of now, the list of candidates remains a mystery (might we suggest Old Bay?). Some recent naming rights deals could hint at how big the new contract could be. Heinz Field in Pittsburgh became Acrisure Field after the signing of a 15-year, $110 million contract. Nearly $7.5 million in average annual revenue sounds pretty good, right? Allegiant Air lent its name to where the Las Vegas Raiders play home games for a staggering $25 million a year for a period of 20 years. The new ownership group, led by Josh Harris, may be shooting even higher: a financial prospectus prepared by Harris for potential team purchase partners claimed that by 2031-2032 season naming rights could fetch north of $30 million annually.
That said, picking the right branding bedfellow can be fraught. Just ask the Miami Heat, who played their home games in FTX Arena—named for the fraud-ridden, now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange platform—from 2019 to 2023. The bland concrete structure where the Oakland Athletics currently play, known as the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, has been called six different names since 1998. From 2006 to 2018, the Arizona Cardinals played at University of Phoenix Stadium. The private online for-profit school severed a 20-year contract about halfway through, as its management corporation was having financial difficulties.
It is unlikely that Commanders players—or their opponents—will remember the FedEx Field era fondly. The stadium is rife with issues. During the first week of the 2021 campaign, leaky pipes showered fans with a mysterious opaque liquid. The team claimed it was rainwater. Fans said it was sewage. In January 2022, an entire railing nearly fell on Philadelphia Eagles Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts, who called the incident “near-tragic” in a letter to the NFL. Oh, and it has some of the priciest beer in the league.
The Commanders’ facilities don’t get high marks either. In the annual report card released yesterday by the players’ union of the NFL, Washington’s franchise received an “F-” (!) in three categories that were voted on by their own players: treatment of family, locker room, and training room. In August the team announced $30 million in renovations, then tacked on an additional $45 million to that budget just a few days ago. A timeline is TBA, but fans can expect structural upgrades, elevators, escalators, and a new premium suite called The 1932 Club.
A final wrinkle to a new naming rights deal? There’s a good chance the Commanders will be playing in a new stadium sometime in the next decade—either in Maryland, Virginia, or even on the site of the team’s old home field, RFK Stadium in Southwest. How that would affect a naming rights deal is unknown, as is whether a new sponsored name would travel. AJ Perez of Front Office Sports told us: “From what I am hearing, the Commanders are going to use this as an opportunity to get a long-term deal for both stadiums. There could be an escalator that kicks in for when Commanders begin play at the new stadium.” Whatever happens, one thing is for certain: the ownership group stands to profit enormously from a new deal.
