After some early success with naming rights including the original Pacific Bell Park deal with the SF Giants, we were asked to help develop a new venue for basketball at CSU-Fresno (Fresno State). To make a long story short, our work led to the building of the Save Mart Center, following the design and development of a $40 million, 20-year deal involving Pepsi and Save Mart Supermarkets. The Save Mart Center is now in its second decade of serving the thriving Fresno/Central Valley market as the state of the art arena for sports, concerts, conferences and more.
In order to generate this level of funding in a mid-sized market (it was long a record amount for a university naming deal) we had to accumulate and share a great deal of value for the partners involved. This included campus-wide pouring and vending; retail rights; ticket sales rights; naming and extensive branding; and the rights to bring QSR partners to the original arena design. The program was created in a form that would allow for growth and evolution over time and has continued to serve the university well.
This work led to additional collegiate consulting including an arena expansion project at UC Riverside and the development of the Mondavi Center at UC Davis, which served to transform the gateway to that campus. Our approach to integrated sponsorship supports the creation of these powerful partnerships and can be applied to a wide range of university and institutional projects.
We deploy a unique approach to developing balanced sponsorship offerings that take into account the needs of various stakeholder groups (students, faculty, alumni) while seeking to maximize value for corporate partners, thereby generating maximum returns for the institution.