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Dunedin Stadium Will Need New Name

Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST NEWS

The city of Dunedin is looking for a firm or individual willing to pay for the naming rights to its baseball Stadium. Knology, the multimedia provider, recently told the city it did not want to renew a 5-year naming rights lease.

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: February 16, 2008

DUNEDIN, Fla. - DUNEDIN, Fla. - Next year the name Knology Park will be only a memory when people refer to the city's baseball complex on Douglas Avenue.

Finding a new name for the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays will be one of the first tests for the city's recently hired leisure services director, according to Assistant City Manager Harry Gross.

Fortunately for Vincent Gizzi, who just succeeded Gross as head of the city Leisure Services Department, Gizzi has experience dealing with big-league ball clubs and sports stadiums.

Last week, City Manager Robert DiSpirito announced Knology, the cable TV and multimedia services provider, would not renew its naming rights contract over what previously was known as Dunedin Stadium at Grant Field.

The Knology name has been on the ball park for the last four years. Its naming rights contract expires early next year.

Tony Palermo, Knology vice president of marketing, said the company enjoyed the benefits of having its name on the stadium.

Sometimes, however, it becomes necessary to shift a marketing program and branding image, Palermo said in an interview. Marketing follows cycles and dollars have to be shifted to other avenues, such as outdoor advertising, newspapers, direct mail and event sponsorships, he said.

Under the terms of its 5-year contract with Dunedin, Knology paid the city $340,000 for the stadium naming rights. In addition, it gave the city $60,000 worth of free promotional time on the local Knology cable TV system to promote its programs and events, according to Gross.

Knology also received the use of corporate luxury boxes at the stadium, plus season tickets and parking for its naming-rights dollars.

Gross remembers the exhaustive search the city conducted throughout 2003 for a firm willing to pay for stadium naming rights.

"We may still have some sales brochures left," said Gross, who was leisure services director at the time and spearheaded the effort.

The good news, Gross said, is the city does not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to stadium naming rights. It will resurrect its Naming Rights Committee and strive to get a better deal this time, he said.

Under a 2000 agreement, Dunedin Stadium received a $12 million makeover. The state of Florida paid $6 million of the cost and Pinellas County and Dunedin put up $3 million each.

In return, the Toronto Blue Jays pledged not to seek a new spring training home for at least 15 years.

A firm gets a lot of exposure by having naming rights to the stadium, Gross said.

For one, the name is seen by the many thousands of motorists who drive by on Douglas Avenue each day, Gross noted.

Further, the name of the stadium is printed in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada during the Major League Baseball spring training season, he said.

The stadium is also the home of the Dunedin Blue Jays, a Florida State League club.

Gizzi, the leisure services director, will immediately be put to the task of overseeing the hunt for a new naming-rights partner, Gross said.

During his time as recreation and special facilities superintendent in Fort Lauderdale, Gizzi negotiated agreements with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. In addition, he managed the South Florida city's baseball stadium and Major League spring training facility.

Dunedin has until February 2009 to find a new stadium naming partner, Gross said. If no deal is consummated by then, the name will revert to Dunedin Stadium, he said.

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