Penguins Announce Name Of New ArenaConsol Energy Gets Naming RightsPOSTED: 11:22 am EST December 15,
2008 PITTSBURGH -- Consol Energy has signed a 21-year deal for naming rights for the Pittsburgh Penguins' new home.Video:  Watch Tara Edwards' Report At a news conference on Monday morning at the Marriott City Center, Penguins management announced the new $321 million arena will be called the Consol Energy Center."Everything referred to from now on, even now at the construction site, is 'The Consol Energy Center.' Inside, on the ice, on the scoreboard, on the dasher boards, Consol Energy will have a major presence in the arena. And they're going to be a major partner with us moving forward. We expect to do a lot of things with their company, with their employees and vice versa." said the Penguins President David Morehouse.The cost of the Consol deal wasn't immediately disclosed. The National Hockey League recently saw the New Jersey Devils sell its arena's name to Prudential for $5 million a year for 20 years.The Canonsburg-based business hopes the 21-year deal will give them a major presence outside the new arena as well."Consol tends to be a broader-base supplier to the industry, so we're trying to establish a corporate presence regionally and nationally," said Dave Synowka, a sports management professor at Robert Morris University.Consol also bought naming rights two years ago for the minor league ballpark in Washington."When you look at an energy base company, I think, resource wise, they have a lot more resources to do this type of sponsorship," Synowka said.It's those resources -- and the energy industry's stability in an unstable economy -- that makes this multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal possible."Somebody said, 'So, why now? Aren't the times troubling?' For the energy industry, maybe not so much so," Consol President and CEO J. Brett Harvey said.The arena is set to open by the 2010-11 season and will offer concerts and other entertainment, in addition to Pens games. Related Links:
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