New York, the city which pioneered the naming rights deal with Times Square, is innovating again.

The city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has agreed a 20-year, $4m deal with Barclays, giving Barclays the right to brand a nexus of subway stations in the Atlantic Yards development in downtown Brooklyn.

Evidently, Barclays’ rationale for the deal is that this is also the site of the Barclays Centre – a new sports and entertainment destination which will be home to the New Jersey Nets, which Barclays are naming for a reported $400m over 20 years.

It will be interesting to see if this will start a new chapter in naming rights, which in the shape of sports stadium deals became a multi-billion dollar industry in the US from the 1970s onwards, and is now a mainstream marketing technique worldwide.

Time will tell. But judging by initial consumer reaction to the Barclays deal on the New York Times messageboard, the pioneers will have to navigate a lot of rough road.

By Tim Crow on June 25th, 2009

Tags: Default, Naming Rights

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