The New York Yankees are in the early stages of selling the naming rights to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, the yearly NCAA football game that Yankee Stadium has hosted for the past decade, On The Money has learned.
The Yankees have a few restrictions on prospective buyers, sources said. They aren’t looking to sell to a gaming company like FanDuel because the NCAA and ESPN don’t want the association. As for crypto, the Yankees have some existing relationships that prohibit it, a source close to the situation said.
The Pinstripe Bowl rights are being marketed by Legends Global Partnerships, partly owned by the Yankees, a spokesman for the team confirmed. This year, Legends repped the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers in selling naming rights to their shared stadium. In June, SoFi agreed to pay roughly $30 million annually in a 20-year deal.
Elsewhere, UBS is paying $15 million a year for the new Islanders arena opening this Saturday. Webull Financial this year reportedly agreed to pay around $30 million a year to have its patches on the Brooklyn Nets jerseys — roughly double what sources predicted months earlier when The Post reported the rights were up for grabs.
As such, sources said the Yankees might attract a bit more than the yearly $3.5 million Duke’s Mayonnaise agreed in 2020 to pay for what had been the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, NC. Pinstripe and the Duke’s Bowl have similar prestige.
The Pinstripe Bowl, which takes place during the last week of December, pits a Big 10 team like Michigan or Wisconsin against an ACC team like Wake Forest or the University of Miami. The Yankees award the winner the George Steinbrenner Trophy.
Current Pinstripe sponsor New Era has been exiting the naming rights space. Last year it cancelled its stadium deal with the Buffalo Bills before the contract expired. New Era’s contract with the Yankees, whose terms aren’t disclosed, ends with the Pinstripe Bowl next month.
There is a possibility a naming rights sponsor for the Pinstripe Bowl might also want a broader deal — and the Yanks in the past have shown a willingness to sell. In 2008, the team had been in talks to sell naming rights to the new Yankee Stadium, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said.
The deal, in which Yankee Stadium would have added a sponsor’s name to its moniker, was as good as done until the 2008 financial crisis, according to sources. The advertiser pulled out before the new Yankee Stadium opened April 2, 2009, the source said, declining to give the name of the advertiser.
