A Valuation Analysis of Corporate Naming Rights for Collegiate Sport Venues

Nels Popp
Timothy DeSchriver
Chad McEvoy
and Mark A. Diehl

 DeSchriver and Jensen (2003) and Gerrard, Parent, and Slack (2007) have performed valuation studies of North American sport venue naming rights agreements, focusing on professional sport team stadia. No empirical research exists that solely examines the values of collegiate sport venue naming rights. This study attempts to fill that void, utilizing a hedonic pricing model. Naming rights agreements for 44 venues in which an NCAA Division I football or basketball team was the primary tenant were identified. Based on the literature, a final model consisting of eight explanatory variables predicted nearly 58% of the variance in collegiate sport venue naming rights values. Four of those variables were statistically significant: (a) facility type, (b) average attendance, (c) presence of multiple tenants, and (d) household income. These results differed considerably from earlier work with professional sport facilities.