Name remains the same: Hurricanes extend naming rights agreement for PNC Arena
Posted March 29, 2023 10:22 a.m. EDT
The home of the Carolina Hurricanes and NC State's men's basketball team will remain PNC Arena after the hockey team and the bank agreed to an extension of their naming-rights agreement.
WRAL reported in September that the sides were negotiating an extension.
PNC has been the name of the Raleigh arena since 2012 after PNC Financial Services acquired assets of RBC Bank. The arena was called the RBC Center from 2002-12 and, before that, was called the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena (or ESA) from its opening in 1999 until 2002.
The Hurricanes, through its parent company Gale Force Holdings, agreed to a new seven-year deal with PNC, according to a recap of the contract at special board meeting of the Centennial Authority on Wednesday. The naming rights portion covers two years, but PNC will have sponsorship of the "champions club" at the arena for seven years.
The Centennial Authority owns the arena. As part of its most recent lease agreement with the Hurricanes, it can only consider the "appropriateness" of a naming rights partner.
No financial terms were disclosed. The previous agreement with RBC and then PNC was for 20 years and a reported $80 million.
As part of that lease agreement, which ties the Hurricanes to the arena through Sept. 30, 2029, the Centennial Authority and NC State receive a flat fee for naming rights, regardless of how much the deal is worth or, even, if there was no naming rights sponsor.
"The current agreement does not allow us to share in any of these revenues," Clyde Holt, the authority's general counsel, told board members.
The Centennial Authority receives about $1.7 million and NC State receives about $300,000 annually for naming rights.
The new agreement expires at the same time as the lease. The previous naming rights deal expired at the end of August, and the sides agreed to short-term extensions while negotiating the final agreement. Hurricanes president and general manager Don Waddell said the team is "100%" interested in discussing a new lease.
The Centennial Authority is considering a massive renovation project for the arena, potentially costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
