Bank Buys Naming Rights To Youth Soccer Fields

This naming rights deal will not go down in the annals of sports marketing history as being on a par with Citibank's $20 million per year deal for the New York Mets stadium or Barclay's $400-million, 20-year deal for the rights to put its name on the New Jersey Jets arena in Brooklyn, but dollar for dollar, Citizens Financial Group views its decision to pay up for naming rights to a new youth soccer complex on its home turf in Massachusetts as a "great economic investment."

Citizens is no stranger to big bucks naming rights deals. In 2004, it reportedly paid $95 million for a 25-year deal for the home field stadium of the Philadelphia Phillies. But its most recent naming rights deal--on a new 136-acre multi-field complex being built by the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association (MYSA) in tiny Lancaster for an undisclosed sum--is expected to pay off in more ways than exposure to local soccer players and their families.

As the Official Bank of Baseball, Bank of America has sponsorship agreements that provide it with exposure in the urban stadiums of Major League Baseball to the neighborhood fields of Minor League and Little League baseball.

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Whether Citizens is negotiating with youth soccer associations in the 12 other states where it does business makes for good speculation, but bank spokesperson Mike Jones cites a policy to not comment on possible deals in the making.

"Let me answer that by saying that the naming rights deal with the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association is a long-term and natural extension of the programs and initiatives we do to improve the communities where we do business," Long says. "The economic impact on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and New England in general when most of these fields are in use represents millions of dollars in new money."

Massachusetts youth soccer players currently travel as far as Virginia and Florida to participate in tournaments of the caliber that will be staged once Citizens Bank Fields open in September. Jones estimates that three large tournaments would generate an additional $5-6 million in new revenue to the area. "When these fields are completed, soccer players will stay here or travel here from all over New England for tournaments and that will have a great economic benefit on our region. We see this not as an extension of marketing but as an investment in the communities where we do business."

Citizens first worked with the MYSA a few years ago when it gave away soccer balls with the bank's logo to its players. The MYSA claims to be the second-largest youth soccer organization in the country, with 185,000 registered players.

Citizens, owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, is the eighth-largest commercial bank holding company in the U.S.

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