Yankees Look for Naming Rights Sponsor.... sort of.

Leave it to George Steinbrenner to come up with this one.  The Yankees are feeling left out of the whole naming rights deals so they want one of their own.  They can't give up the name Yankee Stadium, but they want the bucks anyway.  What are they going to do for these millions of dollars?  They're not saying.

From www.sportsbusinessdaily.com

Yankees Hire CAA To Sell Unique Sponsorship Package

The Yankees have hired CAA to represent the team "for sales and marketing as the team prepares" to move into a new stadium in '09, according to Terry Lefton in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Yankees COO Lonn Trost indicated that CAA "will assist with branding and packaging of sales offerings." Trost said, "I don't want to put any limits on what they will do for us."  Sources said that CAA's "top assignment" will be to market "a naming-rights-sized sponsorship package that does not include naming rights." Trost: "We are not changing the name of Yankee Stadium or the field or the plaza or the building. ... We have a global brand and we're looking for global relationships which we think CAA can work with us to create like no else." A veteran naming-rights sales exec said, "No team or building has ever tried to sell anything like this, but there's only one Yankee Stadium and one New York Yankees" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/1 issue). CAA Sports co-head Mike Levin said, "It's an opportunity for a company to partner with the Yankees and say, 'We support the Yankees' decision to keep the stadium as Yankee Stadium.'" Trost added, "We don't want to make it look like a carnival or a rodeo. This will be done intelligently and will not ruin the image of Yankee Stadium" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/1).