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Friday, February 10, 2012
Raley Field- The High Cost of a Name
by Jack Nordby, published on February 17, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Storyline: Raley's Supermarkets
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Almost daily I drive within a visible range of the Sacramento River Cats playing field, also known as Raley Field. Although I have yet to attend an event there, I am hoping to make it to one this year. I recently began thinking back around the time when plans for this new stadium was still on the drawing boards and I recall that there was a big push and much hoopla to have the new stadium named after Thomas P. Raley, the founder of the Raley's supermarket chain. But the stadium was not named Thomas P. Raley Field like the proposals and all the news media stories reported, and it was not even named Raley's Field, but it was named Raley Field. Maybe I missed something, is this short for Thomas P. Raley? Or is it named like the street in North Sacramento called Raley Blvd? So what happened to the original proposed name of Thomas P. Raley Field?
I decided to do a little investigative research and I found a website that actually is the source for information concerning stadium and parks naming rights that details the length of the term and the cost of those naming rights to the company that wants to name it. There is a link to my source for this information at the end of this article.
Based on what I found at this website and much to my surprise, the Raley’s Supermarket chain agreed to pay $15 million dollars over twenty years to have the River Cats Triple A stadium named the Thomas P. Raley Field. In fact, this article reported: "The largest naming rights agreement is in Sacramento where the Class-AAA River Cats have a reported 20-year, $15 million agreement in place with Raley's Supermarkets."
Just eyeballing the numbers it looks like most of the other companies pay between $35,000-$300,000 per year on an average for naming rights. Raley’s pays $750,000 per year to name the stadium. But are they getting their money’s worth? They paid for the name “Thomas P. Raley Field” but only got “Raley Field”. What happened? Maybe word got out that Thomas P. Raley was not the man that everyone thought he was, and putting his name on a high profile public building was not in the best interest of the public nor of his family. (See: www.hungry4justice.com )
The mystery of Raley Field, (which was suppose to have been “Thomas P. Raley Field”), is a little less mysterious. And perhaps this will also solve the other mystery as to why Raley's is more overpriced than most. At Raley Field those ten letters cost $75,000 each per year. Someone has to pay for those overpriced letters, whether or not they like baseball.
If anyone has any other facts that might help clear this up, I am sure other readers are now wondering why the name did not go up as the plans and naming rights had intended. My source for naming rights is: www.namingrightsonline.com/probaseballnr.htm
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Also, Raley's Field has the highest attendance of all AAA baseball clubs (10,003 per game) as well as over 60 other events held there a year, so that helps make naming rights worth more.
Also, Safeway is more over priced compared to Raley’s and no one’s making you shop at either store.
In this case I agree with Trapper, if you co to the following website (http://www.raleys.com/www/feature/facts.jsp) you will see several contact numbers listed at the bottom. I think a quick call might be informative. I would advise taking a very neutral tack.
You sure are taking this personal HAHAHAHA!!!
:-)
Also, when you contacted Raley's did you ask about the name "Raley's Field"? That would have been the first question I had if I had asked if I had taken the time to call like you did.
"Triple A ballpark drops an apostrophe to honor Raley" Sacramento Business Journal
Print Email Reprints RSS Feeds Add to Del.icio.us Digg This CommentsThe apostrophe and the "s" are gone.
Raley's Field -- or at least the West Sacramento construction site that will be a Triple-A baseball stadium someday -- is now Raley Field. That way it'll be named after the late Tom Raley instead of after the Raley's supermarket chain he founded.
Raley Field is easier to say than Raley's, says Joyce Raley Teel, the founder's daughter and main owner of the West Sacramento company. But the main reason for the change is to honor her dad." end of article....
If Joyce Raley Teel wants to name the stadium after her late father, why isn't this ballpark named "Thomas P Raley" stadium? Wouldn't that be a better way to honor her father? Bunch of f....... idiots....they paid $15 million dollars for the name "Thomas P Raley."
Jeffrey Fekete
www.MakingTheBigGame.com