USC closer to naming sponsor for baseball stadium

At a press conference Wednesday to formally announce Colonial Life’s 10-year, $6.5 million extension for the naming rights to USC’s basketball arena, athletics director Ray Tanner updated USC’s quest for a naming sponsor for Carolina Stadium.

“There’s some ongoing conversations, that hopefully – I’d like to say in weeks to come, it could be months – but we’re getting close to having a naming opportunity for Carolina Stadium,” he said.

The stadium, opened in 2009, has never had a sponsor. With the athletic department in the midst of several projects, a multi-million dollar deal for the rights would be pleasing.

“It starts out as maybe 50 percent of the construction costs,” Tanner said. “That’s the case in naming some buildings, but sometimes naming rights have a pre-determined value. It doesn’t necessarily mean it would be the full cost of a building or even 50 percent. But certainly significant dollars to name a building here on campus.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 4:24 PM.