What Drives the Value of Stadium Naming Rights? A Hedonic-Pricing Approach to the Valuation of Sporting Intangible Assets

This study adopts a multi-attribute hedonic-pricing benchmark valuation approach to the determination of the observed market value of stadium naming rights. Using a sample of 112 naming rights deals covering both major-league and non-major-league facilities in North America over the period of 1979-2002, a hedonic-pricing model is estimated using regression analysis. It is found that the value of stadium naming rights is highly systematic and information-efficient. Naming rights value is principally related to variables reflecting the size of potential target audiences including the economic size of the host city, the facility’s capacity, the league status of the resident teams, and the diversity of the facility usage. It is also found that sponsors are prepared to pay a significant premium for virgin sites with no previous name associations.naming rights, intangible assets, valuation, hedonic pricing