Bank of America Corp. has committed to a deal worth at least $140 million to rename Ericsson Stadium as Bank of America Stadium.
The Carolina Panthers completed the 20- to 25-year agreement this week with Charlotte-based BofA. The bank replaces telecommunications firm L.M. Ericsson Inc. as naming-rights sponsor of the team's 73,250-seat home field beginning next season.
The team and the bank did not release terms of the deal.
The Charlotte Business Journal has learned the deal is valued at $7 million annually, among the richest naming-rights pacts in the NFL.
The Panthers began searching for a new stadium sponsor last fall. The team's existing $2.7 million-a-year agreement with Ericsson runs through 2004. Ericsson agreed to end the deal early if a replacement was found.
"We're proud to have been associated with the Carolina Panthers from the very beginning, " Kenneth Lewis, BofA's chairman and chief executive says in a written statement. "This agreement takes Bank of America's long association with the Panthers to a higher level, just as the team is setting new standards with its performance in the NFL playoffs."
Panthers' owner Jerry Richardson also stressed the long relationship between his team and the bank, already the official financial services company of the Panthers.
"Bank of America was instrumental in bringing the NFL to the Carolinas," he says. "Our success this year makes this a perfect time to announce the further strengthening of the relationship between our home team and its home-town bank."
Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory says the announcement is very welcome as "an expression of the faith and confidence Bank of America has, not only in our football team, but in our community.