Stadium Sponsorship Builds Brand Awareness

A number of credit unions have found value in sponsoring baseball stadiums and baseball teams around the country, including major league stadiums, minor league stadiums, college stadiums and even youth league fields. These credit unions include:

• Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union (Knoxville, Tenn.; $1.5 billion in assets), which has the naming rights for TVA Credit Union Ballpark (Johnson City, Tenn.), home of the Johnson City Cardinals, a minor league team.

• GCS Credit Union (Granite City, Ill.; $312 million in assets), which has the naming rights for GCS Ballpark (Sauget, Ill.), home of the Gateway Grizzlies, another minor league team.

• Arrowhead Credit Union (San Bernardino, Calif.; $960 million in assets), which has the naming rights for Arrowhead Credit Union Park (San Bernardino), home of the Inland Empire 66ers, another minor league team.

• Founders Federal Credit Union (Lancaster, S.C.; $1.8 billion in assets), which recently gained the naming rights for Founders Park (Columbia, S.C.), home of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team.

• Summit Credit Union (Madison, Wis.; $2.4 billion in assets), which has the naming rights for Sun Prairie Summit Credit Union Baseball Field (Sun Prairie, Wis.).

In 2010, another credit union, Municipal Credit Union (New York City; $2.3 billion in assets), acquired the naming rights for MCU Park (Brooklyn, N.Y.), home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league team.

“In 2010, we were looking at a number of different growth strategies as a result of the financial crisis,” Mike Mattone, assistant vice president of public relations and corporate communications for Municipal, said. “In specific, we were focused on brand enhancement, so we wanted to make a statement and put our stamp on something.”