The original naming-rights deal for the Wild’s Excel Energy Center was worth $3M a year, but with that deal coming to an end, a new agreement could be “worth significantly more per year” than Xcel’s, according to Keith Schubert of the MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL BUSINESS JOURNAL. The news of a new naming-rights deal comes as St. Paul seeks $400M to “renovate the arena and two other downtown St. Paul venues.” The figure represents half of the funding for the proposed $769M project that would direct $569M to the improvements at the Xcel Energy Center (MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL BUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/15).
THE DOOR IS OPEN: In St. Paul, Frederick Melo reported the Twin Cities is home to 17 Fortune 500 companies and others, such as Securian, “on the border of making the list.” That “leaves the door open” to a number of potential corporate partners interested in making their name synonymous with “The State of Hockey.” Xcel Energy has been the title sponsor for “The X” under an $80M agreement, for the past 25 years. The next agreement could, according to Pioneer Press sports columnist Charley Walters, total “as much as” $10M per year for the next 25 years. The Wild did not detail specifics beyond a written announcement that the team “expects to announce a new arena naming rights partner before the start of the 2025-26 NHL season” (St. Paul PIONEER PRESS, 4/15). In Minneapolis, Josie Albertson-Grove noted Xcel will still be a sponsor for the Wild. Xcel Energy will “still have signs at the arena and on the Wild’s website.” The company and the Wild will also “provide grants to youth and high school hockey programs” (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 4/15).
