Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, Calif.
Date Announced: Oct. 15, 2012
Owner/Tenant: Maloof Sports & Entertainment – a Maloof family company – owns the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association and the Sleep Train Arena
Terms: Five-year deal for an undisclosed amount of money
Comments: The Sacramento Kings’ arena has a new five-year naming rights deal with Sleep Train Mattress Centers for an undisclosed amount of money. The arena is now officially called Sleep Train Arena, taking the place of Power Balance Pavilion.
Power Balance, a sports bracelet company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2011, forcing the arena to sit still while the company reorganized its business. As a result, the name sponsorship for the Kings’ domain was canceled, said Jeff David, senior vice president of sales and marketing of the arena.
The arena was negotiating deals with four other companies before it penned an agreement with Rocklin, Calif.-based Sleep Train.
“It’s a multiyear, multimillion-dollar naming rights deal. We’re excited to have a partnership with a highly respected and homegrown company like Sleep Train,” David said.
The founder and CEO of Sleep Train, Dale Carlsen, has been a longtime Kings fan, making his company’s sponsorship attractive, David said.
“He’s been a Kings’ ticket holder since 1986,” he said. “He also has a big connection with foster kids. Part of the deal is they buy the tickets from us and make them available to foster kids.”
It’s the second venue within a 40-mile radius to carry the Sleep Train name. Sleep Train Mattress Centers also purchased the naming rights to the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in 2000, which was formerly known as the Sacramento Valley Amphitheatre.
The company also has name branding on a third venue roughly 85 miles from the Sacramento Kings’ arena called Sleep Train Pavilion, located in Concord, Calif.
Sleep Train Mattress Centers has a huge draw of clients along the West Coast, which makes the name sponsorship make sense, David said.
He has no fears that the word “sleep” in the arena’s title will hurt the venue.
“The jokes of it being a snooze fest, (fans) don’t take very seriously. They’re just excited to see a company of that magnitude support the Sacramento Kings,” David said.
Originally, the venue was called Arco Arena, which is a gas station chain owned by British Petroleum (BP). Yet after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP took its name off sponsorships, which resulted in the venue eventually signing a deal with Power Balance, David said.
Contact: Jeff David, (916) 928-5190
