Heinz Field no more: Steelers, Acrisure finalize deal for stadium naming rights

The Pittsburgh Steelers are trading in ketchup bottles for actuarial tables.

Acrisure, a Michigan-based financial tech insurance brokerage, will replace Kraft Heinz as the naming rights holder for the team’s North Shore football stadium.

The venue will change from Heinz Field, the facility’s name since 2001, to Acrisure Stadium, the Steelers announced.

Financial terms were not immediately known, but Acrisure will hold naming rights for 15 years.

“Acrisure provided us with an opportunity to ensure our stadium continues to be a valuable asset for our fans as well as keeping up with the market value of NFL stadiums,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement.

Founded in 2005, Acrisure is based in Grand Rapids, Mich. The company website describes Acrisure as providing customers with “intelligence-driven financial services solutions for insurance, reinsurance, real estate services, cyber services and asset and wealth management.”

The Steelers’ news release noted that Acrisure CEO Greg Williams is a “lifelong” fan of the franchise. In a statement, Williams called the Steelers “an institution in American sports and a globally recognized brand. Partnering with the Steelers is the opportunity of a lifetime and a tremendous honor.”

The Steelers declined further comment on the naming rights deal until a news conference planned for Tuesday afternoon.

The name may be changing, but this is not goodbye. Pittsburgh will always be home for Heinz! Our partnership continues and we’re excited for the future and looking forward to next season. Until then, share your #HeinzFieldHighlights with us. pic.twitter.com/3Cq8DC2F1L

— H.J. Heinz & Co. (@HeinzTweets) July 11, 2022

While Acrisure is not based in the region, the company has a Steelers connection.

In July 2020, Acrisure acquired the insurance practice of artificial intelligence business Tulco LLC, which was owned by Steelers minority investor Thomas Tull. The transaction was valued at $400 million.

Tull, in a statement Monday, said the union will have a “tremendous impact on both organizations as well as the greater Pittsburgh community. The Steelers and Acrisure share the same core values of winning and excellence.”

Alex Abraham, Kraft Heinz vice president of global corporate communications and reputation management, said the company “worked diligently” for several months with the Steelers to extend the naming rights agreement but was unsuccessful.

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“They found a new partner willing to pay significantly more than we could justify,” Abraham said. “While our name will no longer be on the stadium, Heinz will remain a significant, long-term sponsor of the Steelers.”

Heinz secured naming rights to the stadium when the facility opened in 2001. The $57 million deal — the number representing Heinz’s condiment varieties — covered 20 years and was extended for one year in January 2021. That agreement expired in February.

The Steelers have shared the facility, which seats 68,400, with the University of Pittsburgh football team since its inception.

Acrisure reported in May a valuation of $23 billion. Its valuation increased by 31% over the previous year. Acrisure also has purchased naming rights for a 10,000-seat hockey arena in Palm Springs, Calif., that is set to open this year. That naming rights deal spans 10 years.

Naming rights continue to be a lucrative revenue stream for sports franchises. From the start of 2020 until August 2021, 79 stadiums reached new or extended deals with sponsor companies worth $1.2 billion, according to Sports Business Journal research.

That report was issued before Crypto.com paid a record $700 million for naming rights over a 20-year period to the former Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers. That eclipsed the $625 million that SoFi paid for naming rights to the newly constructed stadium in Inglewood, Calif., that houses the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Chargers.

Allegiant Airlines is paying almost $25 million annually to the Las Vegas Raiders as part of a naming rights deal reached after the franchise left Oakland for its new location in the Nevada desert. That eclipsed the $16 million a year that MetLife is paying to have its name on the stadium where the New York Giants and Jets play in East Rutherford, N.J.

Eric Smallwood, president of Apex Marketing Group in Michigan, a company that advises on sports sponsorship deals, said, based on precedent, the Steelers could get $10 million a year annually on the naming rights deal.

“There has been an uptick in the price of these deals,” Smallwood said.

Soaring television contract deals have helped increase the visibility of stadium names, he said. In 2023, a new NFL agreement kicks in with CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and Amazon that is worth $110 billion over 11 years.

“The other piece to all of this — and Pennsylvania is in this bucket — is sports betting,” Smallwood said. “The growth of sports betting by the states and then the growth of viewership because of sports betting plays into it as well.”

Three other companies in the “fintech” field — the term used for technology that aids banking and financial services, including insurance — have entered the naming rights game in recent years.

In 2021, American Family Insurance replaced Miller as the naming rights holder of the Milwaukee Brewers home ballpark. The company is paying a reported $4 million a year to the Brewers, double what Miller was providing.

Also last year, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield entered into a 10-year naming rights agreement with the Buffalo Bills that is worth an estimated $4 million to $6 million annually. North of the border, Canada Life secured a 10-year deal to have the naming rights for the Winnipeg Jets’ hockey arena.