(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America/Bloomberg)
Seattle's new National Hockey League franchise doesn't have a name yet and won't take the ice for another two years, but the team already passed a key business milestone.
The Seattle _______s have their first corporate sponsor: life-insurance firm Symetra Financial Corp. The Bellevue, Washington-based company will have its logo all over the team's new arena, along with naming rights to one of the building's two club areas.
The deal helps bring validation after years of fighting to return hockey to Seattle, said Tod Leiweke, chief executive officer of the franchise. It's also a boost for the team's arena, a $930 million project privately funded by Oak View Group, a facilities company co-founded by Tod's brother Tim.
"To get this to work, we had to make the assumption that partners like Symetra would be there, and sure enough — two years out — Symetra steps up and says, 'We believe in what you're doing,'" Leiweke said. "It's a big deal."
The team is betting that a new franchise and a new venue — built on the site of the old KeyArena — will draw support from a city that's been publicly advocating for more top-tier sports. Seattle hasn't had a major hockey franchise since 1975. And its SuperSonics NBA team departed in 2008 for Oklahoma City, leaving outrage and controversy in its wake.
Marketing Push
Though Symetra didn't disclose terms of the deal, CEO Margaret Meister described it as the biggest marketing partnership in company history. Symetra recently began running national television ads for the first time, and the NHL arrangement is part of an effort to nearly double its annual marketing budget.
"We're not super well known," Meister said. "We want to build our awareness across the country, and we think we can do that with this partnership."
