As baseball’s fall classic draws to a close, it is perhaps time to look at a different league table, that of the companies that have bought naming rights to MLB stadiums.
Among publicly traded company with naming rights to baseball stadiums, 10 are higher year to date, while six have fallen. Financial companies, which have benefited from higher interest rates, are well represented among the winners while telecommunications companies appear to have lagged.
The Detroit Tigers may have finished a disappointing 4 games below .500, but Comerica (CMA Get Comerica Incorporated Report, whose name adorns their stadium, is leader of the corporate pack, with shares up 56.3% year to date, as of Tuesday.
The Tigers’ AL Central Division rival Minnesota Twins finished dead last in the division, but their corporate sponsor, Target (TGT Get Target Corporation Report, is up 47.7% year to date, good for second place in the naming rights rankings.
Among National league naming rights companies, Oracle (ORCL Get Oracle Corporation Report leads the list with YTD gains of 47.5%. Oracle’s name adorns the San Francisco Giants’ stadium where a miraculously rejuvenated team held off the rival Los Angeles Dodgers to win the Western Division title.
There followed a memorable 5-game series between the two winningest teams in baseball which saw the Giants denied advancement to the league championship by a botched checked-swing strike call by umpire Gabe Morales.
The lowly Pittsburg Pirates finished 34 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central Division, but the team’s stadium sponsor, PNC Financial Services Group (PNC Get PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. Report, has seen its shares rise 40.5% this year.
Rounding out the top 5 corporate performers was the home to another cellar dwelling team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team plays in Chase Field, where they ended the season 55 games behind the Giants in the NL West. JPMorgan Chase (JPM Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Report, however, has seen its shares rise some 34.4% year to date.
The title for worst performing corporate sponsor of a baseball stadium goes to Ring Central, (RNG Get RingCentral, Inc. Class A Report, which is down 34.9% so far this year. Ring Central sponsors the Oakland Coliseum where the Athletics faded badly late in the season to finish third in the AL West.
As for the teams in the series, Truist Financial (TFC Get Truist Financial Corp Report, which holds the naming rights to the Atlanta Braves stadium is up 34% this year. Shares of Coca-Cola (KO Get Coca-Cola Company Report are up 2.6% so far this year. Coke is the parent corporation of Minute Maid whose name is on the Houston Astros stadium.
