Savvis Center torn down

[OMMF]

http://www.scottradecenter.net/content/20060907.html

ST. LOUIS ? Sports Capital Partners ? the new owners of the St. Louis Blues ? and Scottrade, a St. Louis-based leading branch-supported online brokerage, today announced a long-term partnership that will include naming rights for the Blues? downtown home arena.

The arena will now be known as the Scottrade Center, effective immediately. The naming rights partnership was announced jointly by Sports Capital Partners Chairman and Blues owner Dave Checketts and Rodger Riney, Scottrade President and CEO. A dynamic new Scottrade Center logo was unveiled at the news event, which was attended by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. Visitors to the new Scottrade Center can expect to see a strong Scottrade presence in the arena and with the Blues, including signage, broadcast and print advertising and promotions, as well as a new website (www.scottradecenter.net).

?This is a long-term partnership that is equitable and attractive to both parties, as well as the entire St. Louis region,? Checketts said. ?Scottrade is making a significant investment in the Blues, the Scottrade Center and St. Louis, and we?re extremely grateful for the confidence they?re showing in the future by making this investment.?

Riney was equally enthusiastic about the partnership, which includes Scottrade?s designation as ?the official online investing choice of the St. Louis Blues.?

?With this partnership, we are honoring our St. Louis roots while introducing Scottrade to sports fans and potential individual investors across the country,? Riney said. ?With two-thirds of our customers living in NHL cities, this collaboration makes sense for Scottrade, our associates and our customers.?

Scottrade has 279 branch locations nationwide, including six in the St. Louis area and more than 150 locations in NHL markets.

The announcement came on the eve of the 40th anniversary season of St. Louis Blues hockey, with improvements to the 12-year-old Scottrade Center ? including a new scoreboard system ? already underway.

?Without a flagship marketing partner like Scottrade, it would be much more difficult to consider arena improvements and continue to bring major attractions such as the Busch Braggin? Rights game and NCAA championships to St. Louis,? said Checketts. ?The new-look Scottrade Center will improve the fan experience, as well as the return for our sponsors and business partners. We believe our team will perform better in this environment and attendance will grow, leading to a revitalization of downtown in the winter months.?

Negotiations between the Blues and Scottrade have been underway since July, when Checketts? Sports Capital Partners was approved as the team?s new ownership group and Peter McLoughlin, 21-year veteran of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., was named chief executive officer of St. Louis Blues Enterprises, a newly formed division encompassing all non-hockey operations, including sales, marketing and finance. Sports Capital Partners closed on June 30 on the purchase of the Blues and the long-term lease to the Scottrade Center, which since opening in 1994 has annually played host to a wide variety of sports, concerts, family shows and assorted major attractions.

?Scottrade shares the vision of Sports Capital Partners to create a world-class arena and event experience for the St. Louis region,? stated Riney. ?The most effective marketing partnerships in sports that include a naming rights component feature a hometown team coupled with a hometown company. Scottrade?s St. Louis roots make this partnership a perfect fit.?

Scottrade Chief Marketing Officer Chris X. Moloney added, ?This is an exciting opportunity that is in line with our marketing strategy and will further Scottrade?s brand awareness among potential investors.?

The Blues will oversee the transition of signage in and around the arena, the majority of which will be complete by the first regular season Blues home game on Thursday, Oct. 12, vs. the Boston Bruins. Beginning today, the arena?s website will be redirected to www.scottradecenter.net while Blues fans may continue to purchase season and partial season tickets for the 2006-2007 hockey season, and enjoy a wide variety of Blues content, at www.stlouisblues.com.

[jtthasportfreak]

PUKE - - - another name for a chump-sponsored arena

[STL FANATIC]

PUKE - - - another name for a chump-sponsored arena

What's that mean?

It had to get a new name. Savvis lost a lot of money and couldn't afford the rest of their deal, so they bought it out.

Scottrade is an excellent St. Louis based company. Some stadiums shouldn't lose their non-sponsered name, but the fact is these sponsers bring in tons of money to the team, and it's still a name. When it's a local company, I think that's pretty much the perfect compromise. If the name is constantly changing that will be annoying, but I don't think that will be the case. The original name was Kiel Center--Kiel being the name of the Opera House and area next door, and more specifically, the name of a former mayor. Then they went to sponsorship with Savvis. Then Savvis had financial problems and they found a new sponsership with Scottrade--a VERY successful company. I think it'll stick for a while.

The only problem I have is the use of purple in the logo. I guess that's Scottrade's color, but it'd have been better if they could have just used blue to match the Blues scheme.