Lexington, KY - The name of the stadium the Lexington Legends call home had three different titles from the time when fans arrived for the opening home game on April 9, 2001, until they left nine innings later.
First christened under the moniker Lexington Legends Ballpark, an announcement of a title sponsor before the first pitch of their inaugural game changed the stadium to Applebee's Field. Ensuing conversations brought a press release out by the end of the fifth inning saying the name had been changed to Applebee's Park. Now after 10-years that name too will change as Thomas and King, owner of 89 Applebee's franchises, has decided not to renew its naming rights contract with the team.
Mike Scanlon, president and CEO of Thomas and King, said his company got more than its money's worth by having its name on the Single-A Minor League ball club's stadium over the past decade. While Scanlon and Legends President and CEO Alan Stein, declined to say how much the deal was worth, both agreed they received benefit beyond its value by putting the restaurant chain's name on the stadium that was built privately for around $24 million.
"When we did our deal in 2001Ö it was the largest minor league deal in historyÖ but there were probably only 10 out there at the time," Stein said.
Though Thomas and King has suffered through the economic downturn and had layoffs locally, Scanlon said this decision was not a result of conditions at the company.
"When you go through a rough spot, it has an influence on every decision you make. But you have to make good marketingÖ (and) it was a mutually good decision. It was not about economics because we will just take this same money and use it somewhere else. This is not about cutting back, it is about redeploying and reenergizing," he said in an interview following a press conference announcing the pending name change.
The Legends have launched a "Who's on Deck?" promotion ahead of their announcement of who is taking over the naming rights of the stadium which can hold at least 9,222, an attendance record set when Roger Clemens pitched for the team on his way back to their affiliated Houston Astros in June of 2006.
The new name should be announced in mid-to-late-January, according to Stein, who said he's been proud to keep sponsorships with local entities.
"(The new sponsorship deal is) a significantly bigger number, but the key element of that is we don't have some of the incentive clauses and variables in the contract (such as those in the arrangement with Thomas and King.) It's a straight-line deal with the only potential changes being non-metric driven, but classification," he said, meaning if the team were to move up to a higher level like Double-A in the future.
The new naming rights deal will also span 10-years but is flexible and could be extended to 15 based on predetermined factors.
Scanlon said he was prepared to keep the Applebee's name on the park beyond the 10-year deal until a replacement could be found. Stein said that wasn't much of a problem as they only had to present the prospect of naming rights to two entities.
"It turns out that naming rights in Lexington, Kentucky for Applebee's Park - since Commonwealth Stadium and Rupp Arena don't have them - are pretty valuable," Stein said.
While it's a definite plus for the organization to have a naming rights deal in place, Stein said if they had to go without the team would still operate. "It's a nice chunk of money, but in our overall sponsorship it's probably 8 to 10 percent. We do a lot of partnerships and sponsorships. Just for advertising and sponsorships the new deal will be about 10 percent.
"It's important, but would it impact whether we stayed? No," he said.