San Antonio Scorpions Land Stadium Naming Rights Deal with Toyota
San Antonio Scorpions owner Gordon Hartman announced yesterday that his team has landed a significant sponsorship with Toyota for both the new soccer-specific stadium being built for the team and his inclusive amusement park, Morgan’s Wonderland. Hartman also stated that the stadium, which will be called Toyota Field when it opens next spring, will seat 8,000.
Michael Hitchcock, president of the Scorpions, told IMS on Tuesday afternoon the sponsorship with Toyota is “literally two different agreements and was a team effort that has multiple layers.”
Toyota will provide major financial support for the 25-acre theme park Morgan’s Wonderland which Hartman built for those with special needs like his daughter, Morgan. Signage will be featured throughout the park and in promotional materials. Hartman has stated previously that he built the STAR Soccer Complex next to the theme park and launched the Scorpions so that all profits from both ventures would go toward funding Morgan’s Wonderland.
The second component to the deal is the naming rights for the Stadium which will be called Toyota Field. Hartman said the two part deal is a multi-year, multimillion-dollar agreement.
Hitchcock said the announcement comes after a lot of effort that has been in the works for a long time. “The agreement was formulated with Gulf States Toyota which is based out of Houston and serves the Gulf States region. It’s one of the more successful regions in the country in terms of sales and that there are six Toyota dealerships in the San Antonio area.”
“What we’ve wanted all along for the Scorpions partner is a really strong national or global brand that had a major presence in San Antonio,” said Hitchcock. “The reason we thought that was important is that when you have a company that share their commitment to the local community, it means they are going to be in it for the long haul and that’s what we are looking for.”
“We are pleased to be able to support the Scorpions, their games and their mission of funding for Morgan’s Wonderland. It is a unique sports partnership,” said J.C. Fassino, Vice President of Community Relations for The Friedkin Group, parent company of Gulf States Toyota.
Only one other stadium naming rights deal benefits an NASL team. It’s believed that WakeMed Soccer Park, home of the Carolina RailHawks, does benefit the team even though the stadium is owned by Wake County, North Carolina and run by the city of Cary.
Toyota also sponsors Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire, whose Bridgeview Stadium is named Toyota Park.
While the team did announce that the new Toyota Field will seat 8,000 they did not bring attention to the fact that this is a significant change from the original plans of a 6,000 seat facility.
“The original plan was to open the stadium with 6,100 seats with a plan to expand in multiple phases,” said Hitchcock. “We are actually going to build it at 8,000 seats. There will also be standing room only seating available so the capacity will actually be greater but there will be 8,000 seats.”
“Coming out of our series of July games and based on our continued success with our attendance numbers, it confirmed our decision. So we made that decision in late July that we would explore expanding starting with Phase II. We had the architect work on rendering what that capacity might look like. We hadn’t previously announced it but we did mention today that we will be opening the stadium next spring with 8,000 seats.”
The first-year expansion Scorpions are having tremendous success both on and off the field. Hitchcock has told IMS previously that it is looking like the team will pull a small profit in its first year while playing at a high school stadium which he said he believes to be a first for a second division expansion team. The Scorpions are also in first place in the North American Soccer League, three-quarters of the way through the season and the team has averaged just under 10,000 fans a game.
Comments are closed.
Very, very cool. Hartman is quickly becoming the class act standard for D2 professional soccer in the US. NASL needs 9 more just like him. The Spurs have just had their head handed to them competitively.
Bart, We know that Morgans Wonderland was costing Mr. Hartman a lot of money. When he couldn’t get his stadium publicly funded I am guessing this plan went into effect. To find a major sponsor and I’m wondering if the stadium build would have even happened if they didn’t have something in place. Just speculation on my part.
Perhaps Mr. Hitchcock should start working for the league office to secure some sponsorships for the league that would be equally as lucrative. Quite honestly, I’ve been a bit disappointed that the NASL has not secured an equally important sponsor as it is nearing the end of its second season.
@BQ – Agree 100% about Mr. Hitchcock. Even in the short time he’s been working with the Strikers FO here recently there has been vast improvements in the marketing of the team. I think this Saturday night we’re going to see the kind of crowd we’ve been hoping to see all season so far, thanks in part to some recent advertising and great promotions. It should be obvious by now that Mr. Hitchcock and PMI know their stuff, and the league would be nuts not to get them on board with every franchise to continue the building process in each market.
I can’t wait to see a game there when I travel down there on business to see HEB
HEB is the best ever.. I hate going to another state unless they have a ALDI’s or Albertsons.. I like that they actually kept the stadium at 8k with the poss of 9k with standing room only.. get ready NASL the Scorpions den will be an antagonist crowd.. the four letter word of fun will be there: BEER, BEER, BEER!
@ BQ
your concern about the lack league sponsors is truly the worry of many fans. NASL must pursue this yesterday.
I thought his project, when announced, was a great idea but one that would ultimately fail. I never thought the stadium would happen.
Bart, I agree with your thoughts completely. Mr. Hartman has done a lot of things right and I applaud him and the PMI team for making this happen! Very well done – for a very good cause. Stay classy San Antonio!
NASL should find sponsors for the soccerbowl it wil bring in more money
Also I think every club just took notice and will look for stadium sponsorship to bring extra revenue
Orlando City and San Antonio I respect both off them
Orlando City changed the way how a soccer organization invest in its players in the lower league of MLS- They play on a level that can compete in MLS
San Antonio Scorpions changed how the front office look change the stereotype of lower league teams- They came in to the league with a team and a stadium plan( someone would expect that MLS gave them an expansion franchise).
You can tell that future NASL and USL teams have taken noticed: Loundon County, Ottawa, New York Cosmos, Phoenix City
@BQ Question where is the Scorpions stadium located in San Antonio I been hearing that it is down town. Either way I’m very impress and I must admit that I going to be eating my word for supper tonight even though they don’t taste that good.
Appetizers – Mean Tweets
Meal- All my mean post
Desert- Humble pie
@Footy76, You are not alone as we have all pointed out here. The 75% fail rate of D2 soccer over the last 10 years or so has jaded most of us who follow the sport and the leagues. The stadium is not downtown and sits adjacent to Morgans Wonderland and across the street from Heros Stadium (high school stadium) where the team is now playing.
I’m sure the SA people who read this site will give you better insight but from what I understand it’s about 5 miles from the center of downtown SA and to the northeast. I think it’s going up right on the corner. Scroll over and you will see Heros.
http://goo.gl/I8CdY
I going to go out on a limb and speculate that this more Hitcock’s success then Hartman’s. I think he has more experience of putting these type sponsorship deals then Hartman. But agree this is a very good sign for the team and the league. It may encourage somne potentioal expansion owners that there can be success at this level.
Brian, I’m going to disagree with you. Having national strong league sponsorship is nice. But at this stage, I don’t think that is the thing they need the most. I think it’s way more importatn that the league is helping currnet franchises become strong and stable and bring in solid ownership groups for new franchises. If you have strong stable league it’s much easier to sell those big sponsorship deals. At this point I just don’t think you have a product that drive the sposorship deals your looking for.
@ButlerBob
I would agree with you that Hitchcock & PMI are due much credit, but let’s remember that it was Hartman who hired them.
As for the strong league/strong clubs debate we are in a bit of a ‘catch 22′ situation. I think strong club ownership & front office is huge; yet the league still must advance with a strong league concept. In fact, in some ways, it should be easier at the league level because the NASL is more of a recognizable brand than most of the clubs. There is no reason why the NASL can’t have some of the basics such as has been pointed by other commenters: soccer bowl, MVP, goldent boot, coach of the year, etc.