HOUSTON, Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Houston Dynamo
and Sunbelt bank BBVA Compass announced they are entering into a
multi-year naming rights agreement for the Major League Soccer
(MLS) team's new downtown Houston
stadium currently under construction.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111214/DA22763LOGO)
BBVA Compass Stadium is set to open May
12.
"We have always believed that Houston was one of the most important and
passionate sports markets in the United
States," said Timothy J.
Leiweke, President & CEO, AEG. "From day one, our
fans have been phenomenal in their support of the Dynamo which in
turn has been MLS' best team the past six years. Now, with
today's announcement and the brand new BBVA Compass Stadium, we
have a partner that not only shares our vision for the stadium but
our franchise's commitment to the community. We are grateful
to the City, Mayor Parker, and BBVA Compass who are as dedicated
and devoted to the Dynamo, to the market, to our fans and to our
community as Mr. Anschutz, Gabriel
Brener and Oscar De La Hoya."
BBVA Compass Stadium, which will seat 22,000, is the newest
addition to Houston's professional
sports landscape. This state-of-the-art facility will be home to
the Houston Dynamo soccer team and Texas
Southern University football. The open-air stadium will also
serve as the host venue for concerts, festivals, boxing, high
school sports, soccer "friendlies," sports championships, community
and special events and more.
"This is great for Houston,"
said Manolo Sanchez, BBVA Compass
president and CEO. "BBVA Compass Stadium will be a major step in
revitalizing our urban core. And it will showcase the most popular
sport in the world, one that upholds the values of BBVA Compass:
teamwork, effort and fair play. We look forward to a long and
enduring relationship with the Dynamo and Major League Soccer."
BBVA Compass Stadium becomes Major League Soccer's 14th
soccer-specific venue with a naming rights partner. Other venues
are BMO Field (Toronto), Saputo
Stadium (Montreal), Dick's
Sporting Goods Park (Commerce City,
Colo.), Gillette Stadium (Foxboro,
Mass.), JELD-WEN Field (Portland,
Ore.), LIVESTRONG Sporting Park (Kansas City, Kan.), Pizza Hut Park
(Frisco, Texas), PPL Park
(Chester, Pa.), CenturyLink Field
(Seattle, Wash.), Red Bull Arena (Harrison, N.J.), Rio Tinto Stadium
(Sandy, Utah), The Home Depot
Center (Carson, Calif.) and Toyota
Park (Bridgeview, Ill.).
The City of Houston has already
benefitted from the stadium's development with 1,500 construction
and related jobs. Another 300 jobs will be added once the venue
opens in spring of 2012. BBVA Compass Stadium will generate
$32 million for the local economy
while jumpstarting the revitalization of the area east of downtown,
where a new light rail line is already under construction.
The new home of the Dynamo will also be a good for the
environment, as this facility promises to be the most recycled and
sustainable stadium ever built. In fact, steps have already begun
for certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) system with the United States Green Building Council
to become the "greenest" stadium in Houston and one of the only LEED certified
sports venues in Texas.
"I would like to thank BBVA Compass for sharing our vision for
the future and our commitment to the community," said Dynamo
president of business operations Chris Canetti. "Together we will
utilize the stadium as a driving force toward making a positive
impact on the city. This announcement, along with the stadium
opening and the team's success, is another example of the great
excitement surrounding the Dynamo organization. We look forward to
a long and prosperous relationship."
A central component of the Dynamo and BBVA Compass agreement
calls for the creation and implementation of a newly developed
"Building a Better Houston" campaign. Through this initiative, both
organizations have committed to making a difference in the
neighborhoods surrounding the new stadium. The campaign will
initially focus on four programs carried out one per week in the
days leading up to the stadium's opening. These will include
programs focused on educating school children, encouraging physical
fitness, sustaining the environment, and revitalizing Houston's East End.
ABOUT AEG:
AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, is
one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the
world. The Los Angeles-based
organization owns or is affiliated with a global network of more
than 100 venues across five continents, such as STAPLES Center
(Los Angeles, CA), Best Buy
Theater (Times Square, NY), Sprint Center, (Kansas City), MasterCard Center (Beijing, China), Mercedes-Benz Arena (Shanghai, China), Acer Arena (Sydney, Australia), The Globe arena
(Stockholm, Sweden), O2 World
arena (Berlin, Germany) and The O2
arena and district (London,
England) as part of the portfolio of AEG Facilities. AEG
developed and operates L.A. LIVE, a 4 million square foot /
$2.5 billion downtown Los Angeles sports, & entertainment
district featuring Nokia Theatre, L.A. LIVE and Club Nokia, a
54-story, 1001-room convention "headquarters" destination
(featuring The Ritz-Carlton, Los
Angeles and JW Marriott L.A. LIVE hotels and 224 luxury
condominiums – The Ritz Carlton Residences at L.A. LIVE – all in a
single tower) along with entertainment, residential, restaurant and
office space. AEG Live, the company's live-entertainment division,
is the world's second largest concert promotion and touring
company. It is comprised of touring, festival, exhibition,
broadcast, merchandise and special event divisions with fifteen
regional offices. In 2010, AEG launched its AEG 1EARTH
environmental program with the release of the industry's first
sustainability report.
For additional information, visit www.aegworldwide.com.
ABOUT BBVA COMPASS:
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that
operates more than 712 branches including 374 in Texas, 93 in Alabama, 78 in Arizona, 65 in California, 45 in Florida, 36 in Colorado and 21 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top
25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and
ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (5th). BBVA Compass has been
recognized as one of the nation's leading Small Business
Administration (SBA) lenders, earning 'Lender of the Year' honors
in 2009 and 2010. Additional information concerning BBVA Compass
can be found on our website www.bbvacompass.com.
BBVA Compass is a subsidiary of BBVA Compass Bancshares, Inc., a
wholly owned subsidiary of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) (MAD: BBVA). BBVA is a
financial services group with approximately $800 billion in total assets, 48 million clients,
7,400 branches and approximately 110,000 employees in more than 30
countries. BBVA ranks among the top 20 largest financial
institutions in the world based on market capitalization and 17th
in Global Finance magazine's list of the "World's 50 Safest
Banks" for 2011. BBVA provides its customers around the world with
a full range of financial services, including commercial and
wholesale banking, retail banking services, consumer loans,
mortgages, credit cards, securities brokerage, wealth management,
pension plan management and insurance. The BBVA Group maintains a
leadership position in Spain,
Mexico, Latin America and the Sunbelt Region of
the United States, as well as
operations in China, France, Germany, Hong
Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. More information about the
BBVA Group can be found at www.bbva.com.
BBVA Compass is a trade name of Compass Bank.
ABOUT THE HOUSTON
DYNAMO:
The Houston Dynamo are a Major League Soccer club that has
won two MLS Cup championships and three conference championships in
its first six seasons and qualified to represent the United States in international competition
five times, including in the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League. For
more information, log on to www.HoustonDynamo.com or call (713)
276-7500.
-Forever Orange-
SOURCE BBVA Compass