Geoff Baker
The Seattle Times
A movement to have CenturyLink Field renamed after late billionaire Paul Allen will almost certainly go nowhere despite roughly 3,000 signatures already gathered on an online petition.
Naming rights have become one of the bigger revenue generators for sports franchises and communications giant CenturyLink last year signed a lucrative deal extending its name at the stadium through 2033. The deal saw CenturyLink shell out $162.7 million over 15 years beginning next season — more than double its previous total package — a significant portion of which will go toward maintenance at the venue.
As of noon Monday, more than 2,900 people had signed a petition calling for the stadium to be renamed “Paul G. Allen Field” in honor of the Seahawks owner and philanthropist, who died last Monday from non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 65.
But despite Allen’s charitable endeavors and his receiving widespread credit from sports fans for having prevented the Seahawks from relocating to California in 1997, the fact remains he also demanded that $300 million in public funds be used to build the $360 million stadium and accompanying $70 million exhibition center. A statewide ballot measure Allen paid for to seek approval of the funding passed by only the narrowest of margins at 51 percent before the stadium was built and opened in 2002.
That means CenturyLink Field, because of the tax dollars used to build it, is now a public facility overseen by the Washington State Public Stadium Authority. That body is accountable to taxpayers for how the stadium’s finances are managed, making it a near impossibility it would forego an average of eight-figures in annual naming rights revenue even if CenturyLink stepped aside and terminated its contract.
At the time of the extension, sports business consultant Dan Barrett — hired by the stadium authority to review the deal — estimated it ranked fifth highest among 24 NFL teams that sell naming rights for their stadiums. “At this point in time, it seems like a very good deal,” Barrett told the authority.
Under the extension, as with the old deal, 42.5 percent of each year’s payment by CenturyLink must go to stadium maintenance. That provision was put in place for the original naming rights deal back in 2004 because of issues over who would pay for maintaining the previous public-owned Kingdome facility used by the Seahawks and since demolished.
CenturyLink is to pay $9.25 million for the naming rights starting in 2020, with a 2.8 percent yearly increase to $13.5 million by 2033. Its current naming rights deal has it paying $6.3 million this year.
Officials from the stadium authority and CenturyLink did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Among the public comments on the online petition is a suggestion that the stadium be renamed “Paul Allen’s Stadium at CenturyLink.”
