BB&T Arena Formerly known as The Bank of Kentucky Center, the multi-purpose facility in Highland Heights, Ky., was renamed in 2015 after BB&T bought the Bank of Kentucky. The Kentucky bank had contributed $6 million toward the building of the facility in 2006 in exchange for naming rights. BB&T Ballpark (Charlotte, N.C.) BB&T invested $30 million in a sponsorship of the 10,000-seat home of the Charlotte Knights baseball team that included naming rights for 18 years once the facility opened in 2014 in Charlotte's Uptown area. The Knights are a Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem, N.C.) The home of the Winston-Salem Dash minor league baseball team was renamed under a 15-year naming rights deal that started in 2010. The Dash are the Class A-Advanced team for the White Sox. BB&T Ballpark (Williamsport, Pa.) BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field is the second-oldest ballpark in minor league baseball. The original name was retained in part when a naming-rights deal worth $150,000 over five years was announced in 2013. A major league game was played at BB&T Ballpark for the first time in 2017. BB&T Center The indoor arena located in Sunrise, Fla., is the home venue for the NHL's Florida Panthers. Formerly known as the BankAtlantic Center, it changed names after BB&T purchased BankAtlantic in July 2012. BB&T entered a new, 10-year deal in 2012. BB&T Field Wake Forest University’s football stadium took the BB&T name under a 10-year arrangement that began in 2007, following a $40 million renovation. The stadium still bears the company’s name. BB&T Point The future home of the Independent Atlantic League High Point Rockers will carry the North Carolina bank’s name when it opens in 2019. The naming rights deal for the High Point, N.C., field is for $7.5 million, or $500,000 a year over 15 years. BB&T Stadium BB&T bought the rights to rename North Carolina A&T State University’s 37-year-old football stadium in Greensboro, N.C., in 2018 for $1.5 million. The move amounts to $100,000 a year for 15 years. SunTrust Park The 2015 deal with the Braves marked the first time SunTrust had bought naming rights to a stadium. The 25-year deal has been estimated to be worth in excess of $10 million per year and not only includes its name on the building, but an exclusive presence throughout the Braves' Battery Atlanta complex surrounding the stadium.<doc-sep>Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall did not return calls from the AJC requesting comment. For many decades, sports venues were mostly named for places, owners, historical figures or the teams themselves. Even the Braves’ previous home – Turner Field – was named for their then-owner, Atlanta mogul Ted Turner. But naming rights are big business – a way to promote a company's brand – and the new firm is likely to want its moniker on the park, said Scott Kirkpatrick, founding partner of Chicago Sports & Entertainment Partners, which specializes in sports marketing and consulting. “SunTrust has already determined that owning the naming rights is a valuable asset, and the value of that property has not changed,” he said. “One could argue that it would be more valuable, since there would be an opportunity to introduce themselves to the Atlanta market.” Other than on signs around the park, the name is frequently used in news stories and discussions on Internet, television and radio. "The Braves are a popular team, and the bank thinks, 'We want some of that positive sentiment to rub off on us,'" said Jamie Turner, author and chief executive of 60SecondMarketer. Measuring the business benefits from having a high profile is much more difficult than gauging a sales boost from a particular ad campaign, he said. “All roads in marketing should lead to a return on investment,” Turner said. “But naming rights, that is harder because you just never know. You have to use your best judgment.” Investment in naming rights can go wrong: The Enron name had to be removed from the Houston ballpark in 2002 after top executives were charged with a range of crimes and the company imploded. When SunTrust bought the Braves' naming rights in 2014, the deal was second only to the reported $20 million-a-year deal that put Citi's name on the Mets' ballpark in Queens. "Clearly, naming rights are a big deal," said economist J.C. Bradbury of Kennesaw State University. “The fact that we are talking about this – there’s this huge merger and we are talking about the ballpark – that just shows how much of an impact sports has.” And whether or not there is hard proof of the value of naming rights, companies clearly think they are worth it, Bradbury said. “If people continue to do it, that signals that they are getting something out of it.” AJC staff writer Scott Trubey contributed to this story.<doc-sep>SunTrust Park is entering its third season as the home of the Atlanta Braves but it may be headed for a name change soon. SunTrust Banks and BB&T announced on Thursday that they will merge in a $66 billion all-stock combination according to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The company will be based in Charlotte and will merge under a to-be-determined name. The Braves have not yet commented on the merger but a new name for the stadium seems likely. SunTrust, which has its namesake tower in downtown Atlanta, made a splash a few years ago putting its name on the new Braves stadium in Cobb County. A Braves spokeswoman declined comment, but the ballpark will likely see its name changed only a few years after it opened to the new company’s moniker. The Braves played their final season at Turner Field in 2016 and moved to SunTrust Park for the 2017 season. SunTrust signed a 25-year deal to be the naming-rights partner for the stadium back in September of 2014.<doc-sep>
Cobb County development around the Atlanta Braves's ballpark is evolving quickly, but that's not the only thing that could be changing at the baseball team's newish home. On Thursday, it was reported that SunTrust Banks, the namesake of the new Braves stadium, would be bought by and merging with BB&T, meaning the Atlanta-based banking giant would be uprooting its downtown headquarters and relocating to Charlotte. (What that could mean for SunTrust Plaza, Atlanta’s second tallest building, isn’t yet know, either.) The consolidation calls for a total rebranding of these colossal companies, meaning SunTrust likely won’t be SunTrust anymore, as relayed by Talking Chop, a Braves-focused SB Nation blog. Granted, after SunTrust is bought by its Southeast competitor for some $28 billion, the base of the to-be-named new company's wholesale banking operations will still be in Atlanta. But the move still calls into question the state of SunTrust's 25-year naming-rights deal, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Braves have played only two seasons at the new digs, which includes The Battery. The popular mixed-use development serves as not just a relatively cultured tailgating site, but also an entertainment and retail hub for the urbanizing Cumberland community. BB&T also has its name atop a handful of stadiums, from Florida to Pennsylvania, which will reportedly need to be rebranded, too. Any suggestions for what the Braves’s new world should be called, should “SunTrust Park” be dropped? This story was updated to indicate that BB&T is buying SunTrust, and not the other way around, as was previously reported.