Tennessee announced on Tuesday a long-term deal with travel-center giant Pilot that will preserve the names of Neyland Stadium and Shields-Watkins Field while giving the Knoxville-based company prominent signage throughout the stadium, including on the playing surface.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it will initially be for up to 20 years with the possibility of extensions, the school and company said.
The deal comes as schools that play big-time college sports search for new revenue streams to address rising costs, including more money than ever going directly to athletes.
Tennessee athletic director Danny White said the partnership could be described as a naming rights deal without a name change, protecting the traditional name of Tennessee's 101,915-seat stadium.
White said conversations with Pilot CEO Adam Wright and his team about a branding deal started more than a year ago, well before the NCAA tweaked its rules to allow schools to put sponsored branding on playing surfaces.
“There’s always been a rule that a stadium-naming agreement allows for corporate branding in the stadium, on the field,” White said. “And we structured this in a way where we knew from the onset that changing the name of Neyland Stadium or Shields-Watkins Field was never an option. It’s way too iconic of a building.”
Pilot and the University of Tennessee have a long history. Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, a Tennessee alum, is the former CEO of the company as well as a longtime supporter of Volunteers athletics. Haslam's father, Jim, played football at Tennessee for Gen. Robert Neyland, the coach whose name is on the stadium, and founded Pilot.
Pilot will be designated as the presenting partner of the $337 million Neyland Stadium renovation project. That includes new signage on the east side of the stadium with “Home of the Vols” along with the company's logo, and Pilot convenience shop in the concourse selling snacks and beverages.
“Simply put, even just saying (Neyland Stadium) preserved by Pilot to me is worth it,” Wright said.
For power conference schools such as Tennessee, a revenue-sharing system that could direct as much as $21 million per year to athletes could begin as soon as 2025. The plan is part of the settlement of multiple antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and conferences and still needs approval from a judge.
Naming rights deals for stadiums and arenas figure to become popular across the country.
Just last week, Florida International announced a deal with Grammy-winning musician Pitbull that includes naming rights to the school's 20,000-seat football stadium.
For many schools, however, stadiums and arenas have names steeped in tradition and meaningful to fans. Altering them in any way to accommodate corporate sponsorship would risk backlash.
At Nebraska, for example, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln is dedicated to Nebraskans killed while serving in the military.
Cornhuskers athletic director Troy Dannen said a deal that would change the name of the stadium is not something he has even contemplated, but balancing traditions with financial needs will create tough calls for administrators throughout college sports.
“There are a lot of things that have been held sacred over time that whether you're able to hold them sacred in this new environment is an outstanding question that we're all going to have to face,” Dannen said.
Tennessee first played football at Shields-Watkins Field in 1921. It was named for William Simpson Shields, a Tennessee trustee who paid off a debt that was owed on the land and gave it back to the university, and his wife, the former Alice Watkins.
The stadium grew around the field and in 1962 it was expanded to more than 52,000 seats and dedicated to Neyland, who served two stints as Tennessee's coach for 21 years (1926-52). His teams went 173-31-12, won five Southeastern Conference championships and the 1951 national title.
“The impact he had on this program, as a coach, it's his vision. That's why the stadium’s there,” White said. “We were never going to change the name. So it was about how do we preserve the name and build a win-win partnership that allows us to reinvest in our fan experience.”
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FILE - Tennessee players run onto the field at Neyland Stadium before an NCAA college football game between Tennessee and Texas A&M Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)
Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group’s leader vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.
Israel’s military said the rockets came in three waves Friday afternoon targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
In Gaza, Palestinian authorities said 15 people were killed overnight in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Meanwhile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah is promising to retaliate for deadly attacks on its communication devices after Israel’s defense minister announced a “new phase” of the war. Fears are increasing that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war.
Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. They have come close to a full-blown war on several occasions.
Here's the latest:
Palestinian authorities say 15 people were killed overnight in the Gaza Strip in multiple Israeli attacks.
An airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City hit a family home, killing six people including an unknown number of children, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
In Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, another person was killed and several others injured when a vehicle was hit by an Israeli strike, the Civil Defense said.
Late Thursday, six more people were killed in a strike that hit a home in the center of Gaza City, while another was killed in Beit Lahya, north of Gaza City.
Israel maintains it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
BAGHDAD — A leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia was killed Friday in a strike in Syria, a war monitor and a militia official said.
Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group — which is different from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — said in a statement that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed “while performing his duties as a security advisor in Damascus.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that a leader in Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah group was killed and another person injured in a drone strike on the car they were traveling in on the road to the Damascus airport.
An official with an Iraqi militia confirmed that a car carrying a group of militia members was struck in Damascus, killing one person and injuring three others. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
There was no comment from Israeli officials on the strike. Israel frequently strikes Iranian and Iran-linked groups in Syria but rarely acknowledges the strikes.
Tensions have heightened in the region following a wave of apparently remotely detonated explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers and walkie talkies belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The attacks, widely blamed on Israel, which has not commented on them, killed at least 37 people - including two children - and wounded about 3,000.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad
BEIRUT — Israel’s military killed two Hezbollah members who were planting explosives along the border over the weekend, Israel’s military and an official with a Lebanese group said.
The official with a Lebanese group said the two members of the militant group were killed Sunday and their bodies were taken by Israeli troops because they were too close to the fence along the tense frontier. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Thursday, Israel’s military released a video it said was taken by one of the fighters showing the militants coming under fire. The military said that the two fighters were killed by Israeli troops as they tried to plant an improvised explosive device near a military post.
In the days following the tense border interaction, thousands of devices exploded in different parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 others. The attack was blamed on Israel, and many of those killed or injured were members of Hezbollah.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Right-wing Israelis with relatives held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and their supporters, rally against a hostage deal, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. The placard in Hebrew reads: " To bathe in his blood." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Houses are engulfed in fire as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians duck for cover as the Israeli army raided the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya on Thursday, Sept.19, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
FILE - Hezbollah fighters carry one of the coffins of four fallen comrades who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
