New York Red Bulls, Sports Illustrated Tickets agree 13-year deal for MLS club’s stadium naming rights

The New York Red Bulls and Sports Illustrated Tickets have entered a 13-year partnership that will see their home in Harrison, N.J., renamed Sports Illustrated Stadium, effective immediately.

The partnership, announced Wednesday morning, marks the first stadium naming rights deal in Sports Illustrated’s 70-year history. The plans will marry two iconic sports brands and implement a slew of new features into the stadium experience, in the hope of increasing fandom and attendance in the competitive New York market.

“We’ve been in the market quietly looking for the right partner,” Red Bulls New York President Marc de Grandpré told The Athletic on Tuesday. “It’s taken years to find the perfect match, and this is it.”

Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed. A source with close ties to the terms described it as a “nine-figure deal” that would be valued in the top three most expensive stadium naming rights deals in MLS. In 2023, LAFC set that record at $10million a year when it signed a 10-year deal for BMO Stadium.

While the face of the old Red Bull Arena will not change right away, the venue’s once-iconic signage will soon be gone. New signage may be up as soon as mid-March, while the digital traces of RBA will be scrubbed on Wednesday.

For Sports Illustrated, this partnership is about more than just having its name on the venue.

“We looked at a lot of different opportunities for naming rights, and I think for 70 years, to have a moment where it’s the family of Sports Illustrated companies coming together, that was what we needed,” Sports Illustrated Tickets’ CEO, David Lane, told The Athletic on Monday.

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As part of the multi-faceted deal, Sports Illustrated Tickets will become the “official ticketing partner” for all events at the stadium beginning in 2026, utilizing an interactive blockchain technology in the process. That means all Red Bulls and Gotham FC games.

The company will also be the “official fan experience partner” of the stadium.

Fans will have access to SI-specific entertainment, like a digital Sports Illustrated Fan Cover experience, as well as a new 1,000-person Club SI. The latter has been seen at events like the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby and Formula 1 Grand Prix.

It is no coincidence that Sports Illustrated chose to invest in a soccer-specific stadium, considering the surge in popularity the sport has experienced in the United States. That, in theory, is only going to continue as the country looks ahead to back-to-back FIFA World Cups on American soil. MLS, in particular, has experienced record investment, even compared to other professional sports leagues in the U.S.

“North America is where we were founded, and where we are going globally, we think (of) soccer and, certainly, the global fan base of tens of millions all around the world,” Lane said. “This isn’t just another market and another stadium for us. It’s a partnership with Red Bull on a global scale.”

Partnering with SI will make room for a “programming evolution,” as De Grandpré described it. He envisions more concerts, other sporting events and more SI-specific events in Harrison. The hope is for those attendees to be converted into fans of the local soccer scene, too.

“How can we grow our brand, our audience, and make sure we’re constantly getting more people through our doors and we’re delivering a good product and a championship team,” De Grandpré said. “That’s the ultimate goal, and it’s going to help grow the league, (and grow) our game, and get us into the conversations when we’re talking about the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and the NFL. That’s where we want to be.”

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(Top photo: New York Red Bulls)