One of San Franciscos most widely recognized companies, the clothing outfit Levi Strauss & Co., will pay $220 million over the next two decades to put its name on the San Francisco 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara.
The naming rights agreement which will help the Niners pay for their $1.2 billion stadium, scheduled to open for the 2014 season was announced Wednesday in a statement by team and company execs.
The 68,500-seat venue will be called Levis Stadium.
Levis Stadium will connect two iconic Bay Area brands that share similar values, a rich heritage and a pioneering spirit, said Chip Bergh, CEO of Levi Strauss.
Bergh called the deal a chance for us to engage with sports and music fans across the Bay Area and around the world.
Team CEO Jed York noted that 49ers as in the mining kind have worn Levi jeans since the Gold Rush era. He called the company the perfect partner.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee also weighed in, saying, It is very fitting to see two of the Bay Areas best-known brands coming together to showcase the best our region has to offer.
The announcement comes as the Bay Area Super Bowl Committee formally submits its bid to host the Super Bowl, either in 2016 or 2017, at the new Santa Clara stadium.
The naming rights deal is the last of four major pieces needed to finance the stadium with luxury boxes, seat licenses and other corporate sponsorships helping to cover the tab.
The selection of an old-line San Francisco apparel brand over a Silicon Valley company is a bit of a surprise, given the emphasis the team has placed on making its new stadium state-of-the-art.
The deal is considerably less than the $330 million that the Niners were hoping to snag from a naming rights deal just a few months back. Its also well below the $450 million that Met Life paid in 2011 to put its name on the new home in of the New York Giants and Jets in New Jersey for 25 years.
On the other hand, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who opened Cowboys Stadium in 2009, is still holding out for bigger moniker money than hes been offered so far.
And as long as were making comparisons, its worth noting that the San Francisco Giants are locked into a $50 million, 24-year contract with AT&T for their waterfront ballpark.
As for Levis, it had been rumored to be interested in the 49ers naming rights deal for a couple of months. As Chronicle business columnist Andrew S. Ross noted in March, the company can probably afford it having posted $4.6 billion in revenue in 2012.