Casino Del Sol, Arizona agree to $60M naming rights deal for football stadium
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It’s a new era for Arizona Stadium. For at least the next two decades, the official name of the University of Arizona football’s venue will be Casino Del Sol Stadium.
Arizona Athletics announced on Monday, Nov. 17, that it reached a 20-year naming rights agreement with Casino Del Sol, an enterprise of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, for Arizona Stadium.
The 20-year deal with Casino Del Sol is valued at more than $60 million — the largest total amount in the Big 12 and one of the largest valuations in Power 4.
“We went through a process where we looked at the asset valuation, we did some market testing, we looked at term modeling, brand safety reviews and we evaluated our community and talked with a lot of people,” Arizona Athletic Director Desireé Reed-Francois told the Star.
“We wanted a corporate partner that would provide impact, but would also value community and create a true partnership. In Casino Del Sol, we found exactly that partner.”
Arizona State, which has a 15-year, $50 million naming rights agreement with Mountain America Credit Union, has the largest per-year average in the conference at $3.33 million.
UCF’s deal with Acrisure is valued at 10 years, $19.5 million ($1.95 million per year). Houston has a 20-year, $20 million agreement with Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU) that runs until 2034. Texas Tech has had a 20-year, $21 million naming rights deal with AT&T since 2006, which is set to expire next June.
Washington’s football stadium is Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium, a $41 million deal over 10 years ($4.1 million per year). Kentucky, Syracuse, Georgia State and FAU have naming rights deals that range between $1.4 million and $3.25 million per year.
“We benchmark these things and we’re really proud of the relationship and proud of the partnership,” Reed-Francois said. “We’re just very thankful. … We’re going to continue to be aggressive in raising revenue. We have to.”
Since Reed-Francois was hired as Arizona’s athletic director in 2024, “naming rights is an important revenue stream that we aggressively sought,” she said.
“The cost of running an athletic department, as you know, has gone up across the country,” Reed-Francois said. “That’s not even including this new era of revenue-share. … Every expense category has gone up, whether it’s medical services — that’s gone up 25% — equipment has gone up 33%, recruiting has gone up, coaching salaries have gone up, scholarships have gone up 17%.
“The cost of running a championship athletic department has increased. That means we have to be incredibly aggressive in providing resources for our coaches and student-athletes to compete at the highest level and make our community proud. This partnership with Casino Del Sol is one facet in that drive for competitive resources. We’re going to keep adding and we have to be aggressive in that space.”
The money from the agreement will go “towards investing in our student-athletes and our coaches and our global operation,” Reed-Francois added. Additionally, the money will also assist with facility upgrades and venue amenities to improve fan experiences at UA sporting events.
Built in 1928, Arizona Stadium has a capacity of 50,782 and is also home to the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl.
“We want to provide competitive resources for all of our programs, including football,” Reed-Francois said. “This is one of those levers that provide comprehensive support. We keep investing in our football program, we keep investing in our student-athletes and this is the modern era of college athletics. Resources are critical.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Casino Del Sol, University of Arizona agree to stadium naming rights
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