How loanDepot became Marlins’ stadium naming rights holder and what it means for the team
On the eve of Opening Day, Miguel Rojas stepped up to a dais in the stands behind home plate at the Miami Marlins’ home ballpark and quickly made an apology.
“Sorry I’m late,” the Marlins’ shortstop and de facto captain said late Wednesday morning. “I put Marlins Park in my GPS and it couldn’t find it.”
There’s good reason. Marlins Park is no longer named Marlins Park.
The Marlins formally announced Wednesday morning that loanDepot, a California-based holding company which sells mortgage and nonmortgage-lending products, is the new naming rights partner for the stadium.
The formal name, ready to go when the Marlins open the 2021 season on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays: loanDepot park.
(Yes, loanDepot is one word and yes, both the “L” in loanDepot and “P” in park are lowercase).
loanDepot CEO and founder Anthony Hsieh said discussions with the Marlins began a few months ago, and that the deal came together “rather quickly.” Hsieh said he is happy his company has expanded its reach inside Major League Baseball by having its name on a ballpark. loanDepot is also the presenting sponsor of the American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, the final playoff round before the World Series.
“Beyond the financial sort of arrangement, you want to find someone that you really can connect with,” Hsieh said. “The culture, the spirit and the overall understanding of performance and leadership is really important for us. Once our team got to know the Marlins organization and once I got to spend some time with Derek Jeter, it was very evident to us that beyond just the partnership and inking of the deal and actually being together with another organization for many, many years, it was the right match for us.”
Financial terms for the multiyear deal were not disclosed, but an MLB source said the deal is short of the reported $10 million annual fee and is more in line with recent MLB naming rights deals.
For perspective, American Family Insurance is paying an estimated $4 million a year for the naming rights to the Milwaukee Brewers’ ballpark under terms of a deal that begins this year, according to VenuesNow, an entertainment and sports publication. That deal was struck in 2019 and begins this season.
The Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates both signed extensions with their naming rights partners this season, with both receiving an undisclosed bump in rights fees from $3 million annually (the Padres’ original deal) and $1.5 million annually (the Pirates’ original deal).The largest Major League Baseball stadium naming rights deal is at Citi Field in New York City. That company pays New York Mets $18.2 million per year, a deal that started in 2006.
Regardless, between the stadium naming rights agreement and the team’s new TV deal, the Marlins have what Marlins CEO Derek Jeter called financial “foundational pillars” in place, although Jeter said there is still work to be done.
“These are big deals and they’re important deals for us,” Jeter said, “but we still have a lot of work to do. We want to continue to make progress on baseball operations. I want to continue to make progress on the business operations side. We still have a lot of unfinished business here.”
Now do these two agreements mean more spending on the roster? The Marlins’ payroll for their Opening Day roster will be about $55 million, assuming the dozen players who are not yet arbitration eligible make the league-minimum $575,000.
Jeter wouldn’t commit to anything on the financial front, pointing to the Marlins’ highly ranked minor-league system and the need to give in-house players opportunities.
“One thing I want to say is that we came here and we said that we have a plan moving forward, we’re gonna stick to that plan, and we’ve done a pretty good job of loading up our minor-league system with a lot of prospects,” Jeter said. “We’re gonna give them an opportunity to play. So when we get to the point where we’re trying to fill some holes, like we said from Day 1, we’ll do that. But we have an organization we’re proud of and we’re gonna give our guys an opportunity to play like they deserve to because we have a good group.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 1:02 PM.
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