Checking In On The The Stadium Naming Curse in 2026
FTX Paid $135 Million to name Miami’s arena. They declared bankruptcy less than 18 months later.
“Corporate hubris”: companies peaking at the height of an economic bubble and overspending on ego-driven marketing.
This is the phrase Victor Niederhoffer arrived at when studying stock underperformance after its company chose to name a sporting stadium. He found that these companies trailed the S&P 500 by a median of -8% in the year they signed the deal, and by a median of -27% three years later. His data spanned 1990-2001.
Is there a ‘stadium naming’ curse for stocks?
We talk about how investors expect their companies to make rational decisions and invest where it will yield the greatest return for shareholders. Legendary GE CEO Jack Welch said, “Strategy is simply resource allocation”. Companies have lots of options for their free cash flow: They can open new locations, hire more people, invest in better processes, or, of course, buy back stock or pay dividends.
If success leaves clues, surely failures do as well. The stadium curse is no secret- many investors remember the spectacular failure of Enron happened months after naming the Houston Astros Stadium, or how FTX was exposed and bankrupted after naming the Miami Heat Arena.
Data from 2011-2026 shows…
I thought it would be fun to look at data from the last 15 years to see if stocks still underperformed the S&P 500 after naming a stadium. And if so, to what extent? Is this trend as reliable as it looked in Niederhoffer’s study?
Click the image for a PDF you can zoom in on
Some thoughts:
Not all stock performances were negative! But only 4 instances out of 44 did the company's stock go on to outperform the S&P 500.
I’m not saying trading is a business model, but there’s nearly no other stock indicator that underperforms at a 90% clip. Wow.
Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. Things can and do change.
Companies that are cash-rich or feeling rich (high multiples) are liable to do this, which could simply be a top signal for a hot sector?
Not sure what benefit you get as a business by doing this. Yeah it’s advertising to an extent- millions of people see your business name etc. But that hasn’t worked out too well for all of these companies, has it?
Is there a lesson here? Probably! If you own a stock that announces it’s going to name a stadium, you might want to think about shifting positions into an index fund instead.
A couple of notes:
January 1 of the naming year marked the start of the chosen stock performance period. After all, contracts were signed long before the new name became official.
I tried to include every stadium named from 2011-2026 in the 4 major sports: MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL
I omitted foreign companies and exchange-traded stocks such as UNIQLO, KIA, and Scotiabank. Who has time to run currency conversions?
I used the SPY ticker for index total returns and rounded decimals to the nearest whole number. All stock data from YCharts!
And here’s an HTML version for the AI Robots :)
| Company | Ticker | Stadium | Team | Naming Rights Year | 5 year Trailing Return (From Jan 1st. Of Naming Year | Total Return Since Naming (thru 10/1/2026) | S&P 500 Return Over Same Period (thru 10/1/2026) | S&P 500 Outperformance VS Company Since Naming Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chesapeake Energy | CHK | Chesapeake Energy Arena | Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) | 2011 | -87% | Bankrupt (2020) | 713% | 813% | |
| Sports Authority | Private | Sports Authority Field at Mile High | Denver Broncos (NFL) | 2011 | Bankrupt | Bankrupt (2016) | 713% | 813% | |
| Metlife Inc. | MET | Metlife Stadium | New York Giants/New York Jets (NFL) | 2011 | 22% | 286% | 713% | 427% | |
| PNC Financial Services | PNC | PNC Arena | Carolina Hurricanes | 2011 | 76% | 473% | 713% | 240% | |
| Barclays | BCS | Barclays Center | Brooklyn Nets (NBA) | 2012 | 14% | 232% | 686% | 454% | |
| BB&T Corporation | BBT (Merged in 2019) | BB&T Center | Florida Panthers | 2012 | 92% | 95% | 686% | 591% | |
| SAP SE | SAP | SAP Center | San Jose Sharks | 2013 | 51% | 227% | 578% | 351% | |
| Rogers Communications | RCI | Rogers Place | Edmonton Oilers | 2013 | 35% | 11% | 578% | 567% | |
| Avaya | AVYA | Avaya Stadium | San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) | 2014 | Bankrupt | Bankrupt (2017) | 418% | 518% | |
| Levi Strauss & Co. | LEVI (March 21, 2019) | Levi's Stadium | San Francisco 49ers (NFL) | 2014 | N/A | 37% | 418% | 381% | |
| United Airlines | UAL | United Center | Chicago Blackhawks | 2014 | 121% | 196% | 418% | 222% | |
| Charter Communications | CHTR | Spectrum Center | Charlotte Hornets (NBA) | 2016 | 261% | -39% | 350% | 389% | |
| U.S. Bancorp | USB | US Bank Stadium | Minnesota Vikings (NFL) | 2016 | 26% | 98% | 350% | 252% | |
| T-Mobile US | TMUS | T-Mobile Arena | Vegas Golden Knights | 2016 | 244% | 335% | 350% | 15% | |
| KeyCorp | KEY | KeyBank Center | Buffalo Sabres | 2016 | 47% | 136% | 350% | 214% | |
| PPG Industries | PPG | PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2016 | 59% | 29% | 350% | 321% | |
| Mercedes Benz | MBGAF | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta Falcons (NFL) | 2017 | 55.00% | 14.37% | 301% | 287% | |
| Bell Canada | BCE | Bell MTS Place | Winnipeg Jets | 2017 | 55% | -18% | 301% | 319% | |
| Capital One | COF | Capital One Arena | Washington Capitals | 2017 | 81% | 164% | 301% | 137% | |
| Scotiabank | BNS | Scotiabank Arena | Toronto Maple Leafs | 2017 | 62% | 167% | 301% | 134% | |
| Fiserv | FISV | Fiserv Forum | Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) | 2018 | 54% | -30% | 230% | 260% | |
| T Mobile | TMUS | T Mobile Park | Seattle Mariners (MLB) | 2018 | 120% | 167% | 230% | 63% | |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM | Chase Center | Golden State Warriors (NBA) | 2019 | 102% | 321% | 243% | -78% | |
| Rocket Mortgage | RKT | Rocket Arena | Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA) | 2019 | -23% | -34% | 243% | 277% | |
| Oracle | ORCL | Oracle Park | San Francisco Giants (MLB) | 2019 | 101% | 171% | 243% | 72% | |
| Ball Corp | BALL | Ball Arena | Denver Nuggets (NBA) | 2020 | -9% | -5% | 162% | 167% | |
| Sofi | SOFI | SoFi Stadium | Los Angeles Rams / Chargers (NFL) | 2020 | 46% | 51% | 162% | 111% | |
| Allegiant Travel Company | ALGT | Allegiant Stadium | Las Vegas Raiders (NFL) | 2020 | -44% | -55% | 162% | 217% | |
| Globe Life Inc. | GL | Globe Life Field | Texas Rangers (MLB) | 2020 | 11% | 66% | 162% | 96% | |
| Truist Financial Corporation | TFC | Truist Park | Atlanta Braves (MLB) | 2020 | -3% | 12% | 162% | 150% | |
| Amazon | AMZN | Climate Pledge Arena | Seattle Kraken | 2020 | 136% | 562% | 162% | -400% | |
| UBS | UBS | UBS Arena | New York Islanders | 2020 | 184% | 331% | 162% | -169% | |
| Ball Corporation | BALL | Ball Arena | Colorado Avalanche | 2020 | -10% | 68% | 162% | 94% | |
| American Honda Motor Co. | HMC | Honda Center | Anaheim Ducks | 2020 | 20% | 52% | 162% | 110% | |
| FTX | Private | FTX Arena | Miami Heat (NBA) | 2021 | Bankrupt | Bankrupt (2022) | 122% | 222% | |
| Caesars Entertainment | CZR | Caesars Superdome | New Orleans Saints (NFL) | 2021 | -67% | -60% | 122% | 182% | |
| Paycom | PAYC | Paycom Center | Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) | 2021 | -50% | -42% | 122% | 164% | |
| Loan Depot | LDI | LoanDepot park | Miami Marlins (MLB) | 2021 | -84% | -97% | 122% | 219% | |
| Paycor | PYCR | Paycor Stadium | Cincinnati Bengals (NFL) | 2022 | -21% (acquired April 2025) | -21% (acquired April 2025) | 72% | 93% | |
| Delta Airlines | DAL | Delta Center | Utah Jazz (NBA) / Utah Mammoth (NHL) | 2023 | N/A | 165% | 110% | -55% | |
| Intuit | INTU | Intuit Dome | Los Angeles Clippers (NBA) | 2024 | N/A | -53% | 66% | 119% | |
| United Wholesale Mortgage Corp | UWMC | Mortgage Matchup Center | Phoenix Suns (NBA) | 2025 | N/A | -76% | 33% | 109% | |
| Comcast Corp | CMCSA | Xfinity Mobile Arena | Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) | 2025 | N/A | -34% | 33% | 67% | |
| Daikin Industries | DKILY | Daikin Park | Houston Astros (MLB) | 2025 | N/A | 12.24% | 33% | 21% |