The newly-named Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium. (Photo by Red Box Pictures/University of Washington)
The University of Washington (UW) has continued its naming rights relationship with Seattle-based Alaska Airlines in a new agreement to rename Husky Stadium, on the university’s flagship campus in Seattle. The deal is worth $41 million over 10 years and creates Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium.
The UW Board of Regents officially approved the deal Sept. 10. Gauged by the dollar amount contributed annually, it’s the largest naming rights agreement for a college sports facility in the U.S., more than doubling the value secured from naming the University of Illinois basketball arena, State Farm Center, in 2013.
The new deal also makes Alaska Airlines the official airline of all three UW campuses (Seattle, Bothell, Tacoma). In a statement issued by Alaska Airlines, the company’s CEO Brad Tilden said, “Alaska is proud to be the official airline of the University of Washington, a pillar in the Seattle community with a rich tradition of academics and athletics.”
Part of the deal granted the airline the rights to the University of Washington Athletic Village presented by Alaska Airlines designation, to refer to all of the university’s sports facilities clustered around Husky Stadium.
UW athletic department administrators negotiated the deal, with assistance from the university’s Sponsorship Office and Chicago-based sports analysis company Navigate Research.
More than half of Alaska Airlines’ investment in the University of Washington is earmarked for student-athlete scholarships and welfare.
“With rising demands and liberalization of NCAA rules on what we can do for student athletes, we’ll need to continue to invest in them,” said UW athletic director Scott Woodward. “This sponsorship comes at a perfect time and is right in line with our principles and those of Alaska Airlines in helping students and student athletes.”
The football stadium, largest in the Pacific Northwest with more than 70,000 seats, received a $282 million renovation two years ago.
The university’s athletic department already has another naming rights agreement with Alaska Airlines, initiated in 2011 with a five-year deal worth over $3 million that renamed the school’s 10,000-seat basketball arena the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The arena is home for the men’s and women’s basketball programs, as well as gymnastics and volleyball at UW.
The new name for the stadium will involve new signage but that is still in the design stage and there is no set time period for its completion, according to Woodward.
“We’re designing it and planning it,” noted Woodward. “It will be done tastefully. As for the University of Washington Athletic Village presented by Alaska Airlines, what we’re going to do is put up signage on the perimeter of our Athletic Village around the stadium, up to five monument-styled signs that are going to designate it.”
Both organizations see the name change as a win-win development.
“This agreement formally brings together two iconic local organizations for the next decade,” said Alaska Airline CEO Tilden in the company’s statement.
“It’s the advancement and expansion of a great partnership that we hope continues for a long time,” said Woodward. “I think it’s a company that has great Northwest values and in line with what we do as a university. I couldn’t be more pleased with the relationship.”
Interviewed for this story: Scott Woodward, (206)543-2212