Hurricanes Hire the Bonham Group to Market Naming Rights for Convocation Center

Feb. 26, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Director of Athletics Paul Dee announced today that the University of Miami has exclusively retained The Bonham Group to lead the naming rights marketing campaign for the school’s one year-old arena.

Located on the University of Miami campus in the heart of Coral Gables, the Convocation Center is a multipurpose entertainment facility with 26 executive suites and a capacity of 7,000. It opened in January of 2003 at a cost of approximately $51M and hosts many outstanding events. These include: Hurricane men’s and women’s and basketball, concerts, family shows, and university functions such as lecture series, graduations, etc. Additionally, it will host the first presidential debate in September of this year.

“We are fortunate to have a potential revenue stream in the form of the Convocation Center naming rights,” said Paul Dee. “We believe The Bonham Group is the firm best able to help us locate and negotiate with an appropriate corporate partner for our first-class facility.”

The Bonham Group is a Denver-based sports and entertainment marketing firm that has evaluated more than $4.5 billion in sponsorships and negotiated more than $1.1 billion in sponsorship contracts. It has successfully negotiated naming rights agreements for: PETCO Park in San Diego, U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, the Toyota Center in Houston, Ford Field in Detroit, Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, PNC Park in Pittsburgh and the Sporting News Radio Network, a division of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Sports Media.

“We are pleased to be representing the University of Miami,” said Dean Bonham, chairman and CEO of The Bonham Group. “The school’s commitment to excellence is clearly mirrored in the Convocation Center’s construction and the naming rights will be a powerful connection for a corporate sponsor.”