The New Orleans Saints needed a new naming rights partner in 2020 when auto giant Mercedes-Benz decided to not renew its contract after inking a long-term stadium deal with the rival Atlanta Falcons.
The Saints responded by hiring sports and entertainment advisory firm Oak View Group to help find their second naming rights partner in the history of the 50-year-old stadium. After fielding a variety of offers, including one from now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the Saints chose Caesars Entertainment Inc. They are now four years into a 20-year agreement worth $138 million.
That exclusive partnership, which will be on national display during the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, technically preceded the launch of a multibillion-dollar sports betting industry in the U.S., which has stronger ties than ever to pro sports leagues, including the NFL. Caesars debuted its sportsbook app one month after announcing the naming rights deal in 2021.
In recent years, leagues have pushed to popularize sports betting while warning consumers about the potential pitfalls. The NFL, for example, does not allow sports betting companies to be a stadium naming rights partner. Yet Caesars managed to find a way in New Orleans as a casino-entertainment company rather than a betting firm, similar to the way Hard Rock International managed an 18-year deal with the Miami Dolphins back in 2016.
“We knew that Caesars was getting into sports betting,” OVG president of global partnerships Dan Griffis said in a video interview. “[But] the opportunity for the company to put their name on it allowed it to be a bit of a loophole, because it’s not Caesars sportsbook, it’s Caesars entertainment.”
Caesars, the NFL’s casino sponsor, also happens to be one of the league’s lucrative U.S. sportsbook partners. The public company and the league inked that groundbreaking deal just a few months before the Saints’ naming rights deal was announced in 2021.
The business relationship between Caesars and the NFL has grown since then, with both collaborating on fan engagement initiatives and tentpole events. One year after the league hosted the Super Bowl in Las Vegas for the first time, highlighting its ties to a place nicknamed Sin City, it returns to the Big Easy in the casino-branded Superdome with its own gambling ties in a legal sports betting state.
“The proverbial ship has sailed,” former American Gaming Association executive and sports betting consultant Sara Sloane said in a phone interview. “There’s not much daylight (anymore) between gaming and the sports industry.”
Like other naming rights deals, it’s typically a high-profile play to gain brand awareness locally. After all, Caesars acquired the casino Harrah’s New Orleans one month after the state legalized sports betting and rebranded it Caesars New Orleans last year with a $435 million renovation. Caesars has used one of the city’s most popular landmarks to increase name recognition in a region that was more familiar with the Harrah’s brand name.
“The Caesars partnership was an easy decision,” Saints president Dennis Lauscha said in an emailed statement. “Our two organizations are closely aligned when it comes to building economic impact, investment in the community, commerce and workforce development. … They could not be a better partner.”
The parties have successfully collaborated as the Superdome hosted other major events since the deal was struck, including the men’s Final Four in 2022 when the NCAA concealed Caesars advertising inside the facility. Later that year, LSU hosted Florida State in a big-time college football matchup at the Superdome. Caesars had a historic yet controversial partnership with the Tigers’ athletic department at the time (which called for sports betting advertising across campus). It was terminated one year later as one of several advertising deals between colleges and sportsbooks that didn’t pan out.
The NFL though has embraced the new world of sports betting, and while there probably won’t be a FanDuel Stadium anytime soon under the league’s stadium naming guidelines, many experts believe the entanglement between pro football and betting is only getting started.
“All of this is incremental,” said gambling industry analyst Chris Grove in an interview. “We keep moving in the direction of more opportunities for sports betting companies to write checks to leagues, teams and players. I don’t think we’re going to need another loophole to eventually get a DraftKings Stadium. It feels inevitable.”