(January 30 – 12:40 ET) – What’s next — the BMO Nesbitt Burns Curling Rink? Yet another financial firm is paying to put is name on a sports stadium.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Denver-based money managers Invesco Funds Group, part of the same Amvescap plc that owns AIM Fund Management and Trimark Financial, is paying US$120 million for the right to name a new football stadium in Denver.

The stadium will be called Invesco Field at Mile High. It will open for business in the coming season as home field for the NFL’s Denver Broncos. The old stadium will be leveled to make way for a parking lot.

The WSJ says Richard Healey, Invesco’s director of marketing, said the agreement is one of the five or six most expensive corporate-stadium-naming deals, and one of the largest involving a financial firm. “From a media and branding perspective, we feel we get fair value for that money,” said Healey, noting that the payments will be spread over 20 years.

News of the new Denver digs comes fast on the heels of Raymond James’ Canadian debut, replacing the old Goepel McDermid tag. Raymond James, the St. Petersburg, Florida-based brokerage, has its name on the Tampa Bay football stadium that hosted Super Bowl XXXV this past weekend.
-IE Staff