Ball Corp. And Kroenke Sports Launch Expansive Partnership Including Denver Arena Naming Rights

Denver’s hometown arena is getting a new name. The Pepsi Center is out; Ball Arena is in as the new home of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, under a deal announced today between Kroenke Sports & Entertainment—owner of the teams and arena—and Denver-based Ball Corp., which manufacturers 50% of the aluminum cans in North America.

The branding is a chance to re-introduce the 140-year old company to the world and widely launch its new recyclable Ball aluminum cup, the firm’s first consumer-facing product in more than 25 years. The partnership stretches far beyond Denver and will tap the full KSE global collection of sports properties, which also includes the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Premier League’s Arsenal F.C., as well as their respective homes, SoFi Stadium and Emirates Stadium, along with MLS’s Colorado Rapids and NLL’s Colorado Mammoth.

“If you can do a deal with a property for naming rights and you get access to all of the different properties that an owner like Kroenke has, that is an absolute home run,” says John Collins, who is head of properties at Excel Sports Management. KSE scored the top spot last year in Forbes’ ranking of the world’s most valuable sports empires.

“We want to get the word out about recycling, and that there is alternative to plastic,” says Ball CEO John Hayes, who has run the $11.5 billion-in-revenue company since 2011. “They are the perfect partner, and they are in our hometown.” 

Hayes says he wants to raise the U.S. aluminum can recycling rate—currently around 50%—to a figure closer to the global mark of 69%.

Ball introduced its new aluminum cups on a limited basic last year, including at the former Pepsi Center, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The cups are currently available on Amazon where a pack of 30 retails for $25. But Ball is tapping into the sustainability trend and planning a massive rollout in 2021 across all retailers once its new $200 million manufacturing facility in Rome, Georgia is operational, which will increase annual cup production from two million to 500 million.

Kroenke’s venues in Denver, Los Angeles and London provide a massive platform for Ball. The Denver arena holds more than 200 events per year, while SoFi is scheduled to host the 2022 Super Bowl, 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship, 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics. Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is the fourth-largest soccer stadium in England. The venues will transition over the next couple of years to have all cold beverages served in aluminum cups, bottles and cans.

Ball market research found the global disposable plastic cup market to be 93 billion annually, with 25% of the total in the U.S. Hayes says Ball wants to replace the ubiquitous Solo plastic cup, which he adds is not recyclable.

The company has been on a role, fueled by global beverage-can demand. Ball’s stock price is up 44% year-to-date, crushing the S&P 500’s 7% return. Its current market value is $30 billion.

The vast majority of naming rights partners already have a large presence in that market, typically via a corporate headquarters. Ball fits the bill, having moved its corporate offices to Colorado in 1998. “You really can’t look or justify a naming rights deal on marketing and brand visibility alone,” says Miller. “There has to be a consensus among executives on how this can help you recruit, retain and energize your employee base.”

No terms of the long-term deal were released, but Hayes says there are built-in protections for Ball if the coronavirus continues to keep fans out of venues in 2021. Forbes estimates the naming rights component of the deal is worth roughly $6 million a year. Pepsi had its name on the building when it opened in 1999 under an original 20-year deal worth $68 million. Kroenke landed one of the world’s biggest naming rights deals last year when Social Finance agreed to pay $400 million over 20 years to brand Kroenke’s new $5 billion Los Angeles shrine SoFi Stadium.

Hayes says KSE will benefit financially if they can get other sports venues to convert to plastic-free, saying, “It is an economic partnership that when we win, they win.”