MetLife gets final cornerstone partner [The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)]

Oct. 18----Global technology companies SAP and EMC will jointly sponsor a corner of the 82,500-seat arena.

MetLife Stadium officials said Wednesday that a fourth and final cornerstone partnership has been found for the Meadowlands home of the Jets and Giants of the National Football League: Global technology companies SAP and EMC will share the sponsorship of a corner of the 82,500-seat stadium.

The Giants and Jets originally signed up Pepsi, BudLight, Verizon, and MetLife as the cornerstone sponsors for a reported $6 million to $8 million per year for the venue that opened in 2010. But after a first football season as New Meadowlands Stadium, the site became MetLife Stadium last summer as the New York-based insurance company agreed to pay a reported additional $10 million annually.

Sports Business Daily reported in June that stadium representatives were seeking $7 million to $12 million per year for the final cornerstone partner.

Giants co-owner Steve Tisch said in a statement that the two companies "will help us to explore a powerful technological presence never before felt in a sports stadium." Jets owner Woody Johnson touted "a new, advanced level of fan interaction."

The increasing interest in the use of social media by fans during games -- to post updates on Facebook or to check the real-time statistics for their fantasy football team, for instance -- has led to challenges for stadiums and arenas to keep up with the demand. SAP executive Bill McDermott said the new partnership will help offer fans "cutting-edge apps" both inside and outside the stadium.

Stadium Chief Executive Officer Brad Mayne said that the rapidly changing technology made it a challenge last year to provide enough bandwidth for fans to watch streaming videos. Mayne said that problem has mostly been solved this year, and that fans can now use an official team app to go directly to a menu that allows users to choose videos, replays of plays from various camera angles, or real-time statistics.

Mayne added that establishing a new partnership with two technology companies will help stadium officials stay ahead of the latest trends.

"This gives us accessibility to two of the biggest powerhouses in the technology business," Mayne said. "We'll have the firepower to be able to understand what's in the pipeline, so we'll be able to do our business better."

The stadium is one of a handful in the NFL that are being visited by league reviewers to establish a "best practices" in technology model for all 32 teams.

Officials of the Giants and Jets said more than 500,000 fans have downloaded the official apps of the franchises.

The gate will be called the "SAP Gate" at the southeast corner of the stadium, with the two companies sharing marketing rights and hospitality opportunities.

The Giants and Jets engaged in serious negotiations with German insurance giant Allianz in September 2008 for a naming rights deal worth up to $30 million per year. But public backlash followed because of the company's association with Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The subsequent economic collapse made it more difficult for the team to find potential naming rights partners at that price.

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