Seahawks home has a new name: Qwest Field

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 2, 2004

SEATTLE – There will be no more perfect records at Seahawks Stadium.

If the Seattle Seahawks are to go unbeaten at home again anytime soon, it will happen at Qwest Field. The telecommunications company recently purchased naming rights for the downtown stadium, the team announced Wednesday.

“We need to compete, both on and off the field,” Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke said. “Most all other NFL stadiums have entered in this kind of partnership. It clearly was contemplated from the beginning, and we knew that we needed to get this done. It was just a matter of when to do it.”

Terms of the agreement have not been made public. One published report had the Seahawks earning between $75 and $80 million over 15 years, although the team would not confirm the numbers.

Leiweke said that the parameters are “comparable” to deals recently made between NFL teams and corporate sponsors.

Of the 32 NFL teams, 18 have sold naming rights (including the Tennessee Titans, who had to drop its partner, Adelphia, after the company went bankrupt).

The Philadelphia Eagles signed a 20-year agreement with Lincoln Financial last year that will pay the team $140 million. The Houston Texans got $300 million over 30 years from Reliant in 2002, while Ford will pay the Detroit Lions $40 million over 20 years, thanks to a 2002 contract.

Safeco could pay the Seattle Mariners about $40 million over its 20-year contract to name the baseball stadium across the street.

The Washington State Public Stadium Authority still has to approve the deal before anything is official, although there is no indication that it would stand in the Seahawks’ way.

The facility formerly known as Seahawks Stadium officially opened in August 2002 after the team spent 24 years at the Kingdome and two at Husky Stadium. A number of factors, including a poor economy, prevented the team from finding a naming partner, but team officials saw Qwest as a perfect fit.

“It took a little bit of time,” Leiweke said, “but we think we found the right partner.”

Leiweke called the partnership “a marketing and business-to-business” relationship in that it entails more than naming rights. Qwest will be involved in several other sponsorship and community projects with the Seahawks as part of the deal.

Leiweke would not specifically say that the deal could bring down ticket prices or affect the team’s ability to sign free agents, preferring instead to talk about the Seahawks’ ability to remain financially competitive.

“If you want to be competitive, you’ve got to be able to compete with other teams in free agency and signing bonuses,” Leiweke said. “We’re not a charity; we’re a stand-alone business. And as all aspects of the business perform, this will be good because we won’t be reliant upon any one revenue stream in a disproportionate way.”

A good part of the money will go toward a fund to keep up stadium amenities over the years.

The Seahawks went 8-0 at home last season, so they already have quite a tradition at the downtown stadium. Their overall record was 11-5 at Seahawks Stadium.

“We went 8-0, and you can’t do much better than that,” fullback Mack Strong said. “Hopefully we can continue that in the new Qwest Field. If we can duplicate that record, and then play well on the road, we’ll be in good shape.”

The facility originally cost $430 million, of which $300 million came from public funds. The other $130 million, plus an estimated $30 million in cost overruns, was paid for by team owner Paul Allen.

Qwest is a Denver-based company that has about 5,000 employees in the state of Washington. The company reported a $310 million loss in the first quarter of this year, but officials are optimistic that will turn around.

“We’ve made tremendous progress, and we’re definitely on the right track,” said Kirk Nelson, president of the Washington branch of Qwest. “We’re in a highly competitive market, and you need to do something like this to get your brand out there.”