ST. LOUIS — The region now knows the name of its first Major League Soccer team’s home turf: Centene Stadium.
St. Louis City SC and Clayton-based health care titan Centene Corp. inked a 15-year deal for naming rights for the stadium at Market and 20th streets where the team will play beginning in 2023. Centene will have its name emblazoned on the outside of the 22,500-seat facility, the scoreboard and other signage.
“This is such an exciting partnership,†said team CEO Carolyn Kindle Betz. “We have some great things planned for the region.â€
The deal for the naming rights is a big milestone for the nascent club, likely the biggest financial announcement after the stadium itself, and could bring in $3 million to $5 million a year in revenue. It also marks a turning point in how one of the largest companies in the region regards the city.
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Kindle Betz — whose family, the Taylors of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, owns the team, along with World Wide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh — said the two organizations also will partner on health and wellness initiatives in the region, details of which are still being worked out.
The deal renews Centene’s interest in the city. The company in 2008 pulled out of plans to build a campus . Instead, it built the first phase of its $770 million expansion in Clayton.
And in 2020, the company announced plans to build a $1 billion eastern headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, saying it would hire as many as 6,000 people there over the next decade. Comments from outgoing CEO Michael Neidorff — who had said that crime hurt his company’s ability to recruit top-notch talent to St. Louis — had worried some area officials that the company would pull out of the region.
But Centene spokeswoman Marcela Manjarrez emphasized in an interview before the announcement that St. Louis is the company’s global headquarters.
“This is our home,†Manjarrez said. “We are committed to the community and people who live here.â€
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
But stadium naming rights can be lucrative for team owners: National Rental Car, a subsidiary of Enterprise, committed to paying $158 million over 20 years for a new riverfront stadium for the Rams before the region’s talks with the NFL imploded.
Edward Jones officials said the company paid more than $32 million over 14 years for the rights at The Dome at America’s Center, the former home of the Rams.
Amazon paid a reported $300 million to $400 million in 2020 to rename Seattle’s KeyArena facility, home to NHL team the Kraken and WNBA team the Storm, to Climate Pledge Arena.
In the MLS, Banc of California inked a deal in 2016 for $100 million over 15 years for the stadium of Los Angeles soccer team LAFC. (The Galaxy, founded in the 1990s, is the LA team that had European greats like David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on its roster.) The company later paid around $20 million to terminate that deal in 2020.
Luxury automaker Audi in 2017 agreed to pay $4 million per year for 10-15 years for naming rights for DC United’s stadium. Financial technology startup Lower agreed to pay between $3 million and $4 million a year at the Columbus, Ohio, soccer stadium, according to the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Business Journal.
The City SC partnership marks Centene’s latest foray into sports. In October, the company announced a multiyear agreement with Charlotte’s MLS team, designating Centene as the official health insurance partner for the club.
Centene also has naming rights at the Maryland Heights ice center where the St. Louis Blues practice, as well as Clayton High School’s athletic stadium, known as Gay Field at Centene Stadium. Fontbonne University’s soccer and lacrosse teams play there as well.
Manjarrez, the spokeswoman, said the deals are complementary.
“We invest locally,†she said.
Meanwhile, construction on the downtown stadium, which stretches at least six square blocks north of Market and 20th streets, is slated to finish this summer. When finished, the stadium’s upper seats will offer a 360-degree view of the city skyline, the team said. Construction crews from Alberici, L. Keeley Construction and Mortenson are also building three practice and training fields on the south side of Market Street.
Team officials have given breadcrumbs of milestones over the past year — from announcing St. Louis-based Together Credit Union as its banking partner to unveiling a four-story parking garage and ground-floor retail.
The team also moved forward on renovating its new headquarters — the historic Union Square building at 320 South 21st Street that will house its 150 employees. The property is just steps away from the practice fields.