EverBank Field, home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, will retain its name with a renewed contract.
The National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars will continue its naming rights sponsorship with Florida-based EverBank financial corporation in a $43-million, 10-year extension, Jaguars owner Shad Khan and EverBank chairman and CEO Robert Clements announced July 25.
The deal, which will become official in 2015, is an extension of their original five-year contract first passed in 2010, with the new deal running through the 2024 NFL season.
Vice President of Media Relations and Corporate Communications for EverBank, Michael Cosgrove, said that the partnership has been a vital asset of EverBank’s media strategy and brand outreach, with the bank more than doubling in size since the original contract was signed.
“Back when we had announced the original agreement in 2010, we were a private company. We went public in 2012 with the New York Stock Exchange, and the scope of our business has really become significantly larger,” Cosgrove said. “We are the largest bank based in Florida today, and we have significant business operations from coast to coast.”
The naming rights renewal agreement will be submitted to the Jacksonville City’s Office of General Counsel in early August. The Jaguars, who lease EverBank Field from the city, will ask the city once again to waive a 25-percent fee that the city is entitled to, the equivalent of $10.75-million. The city waived the fee in the original agreement and Cosgrove said the current renewal agreement has support from the Jaguars as well as Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown.
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said the city has incentive to support the new deal.
“The city shares our goal of having a sustainable and stable NFL franchise in Jacksonville. Retaining revenue that is generating from the stadiums, because the Jaguars play here, supports that goal,” Lamping said. “We believe EverBank is the perfect naming rights partner for the Jaguars because they are a locally based company that is growing very quickly nationally, and has international aspirations—qualities that the Jaguars share.”
EverBank will pay the Jaguars about $4.3 million a year on average, but the payment schedule is on a sliding scale.
“It's a little bit less in the early years and a little bit more in the later years if everything works according to plan, so on average it’s $4.3 million a year,” Cosgrove said. “The waiver is part of the agreement, which is just a continuation of the original one. It is part of the new agreement and we continue to seek it. It was approved last time and it’s something the city council will be taking a look at—but the mayor’s office and the Jaguars are in approval.”
According to a draft of the naming rights extension contract that was obtained by Venues Today from the City, EverBank will pay the Jaguars $3,755,914 for the 2015 season, and that amount will increase by about $100,000 annually, peaking at $4,900,615 for the 2024 season.
Because the Jaguars have at least one away game scheduled in London for each of the next three years, the team will provide EverBank with certain incentives to compensate for lost advertisement. Instead of paying EverBank a monetary fee, the partnership has worked out alternative reimbursement options.
“That equation is all backed into the agreement that we’ve reached. The price that we’ve agreed on reflects that they will be playing in London, and we are fully in support of the London games,” said Cosgrove. “Certainly the Jaguars have emerged as one of the leaders in the NFL, as far as international brand awareness and it helps elevate our brand as well.”
In the current contract, alternative reimbursement that the Jaguars will give to EverBank includes a digital media signage package for EverBank on the team’s website as well as signage in the stadium, and a wide arrangement of tickets and hospitality packages. These include one north end cabana zone; eight field seats; two club tables; eight bar rail seats; a spa cabana for one game; five additional terrace suite tickets; parking passes; a $20,000 credit fund for EverBank to use for crowd engagement, and four additional Jaguars cheerleader visits.
“That provision is in the existing naming rights agreement and it is designed to ensure that EverBank receives value in the event that the Jaguars play away from EverBank Field,” Lamping said. “We are thrilled to be continuing our relationship with EverBank and we look forward to another 10 wonderful years together.”
Interviewed for this story: Michael Cosgrove, (904) 623-2029; Mark Lamping, (904) 633-6210