This year’s Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals marks the first time the big game will be held in a stadium sponsored by a fintech company.
SoFi, which offers student loan refinancing, digital banking and a robo advisor, used some of the $500 million it raised in 2019 to purchase naming rights for the new stadium in Los Angeles. The fintech signed a 20-year deal valued at more than $30 million, a record for a sports venue naming rights, according to Bloomberg.
So far, SoFi is getting its money’s worth. SoFi Stadium is not only hosting a Super Bowl, but one of its two teams will be playing in it. While its other team, the Los Angeles Chargers, didn’t make the playoffs, it's a talented team that appears to be on the rise.
SoFi is one of 10 stadiums in the National Football League to be sponsored by a financial services firm. How are the others doing?
These rankings take into account three objective metrics: team valuation, average attendance and playoff games hosted (including Super Bowls). Because the companies aren’t really related to success on the football field, I decided to leave out general wins and losses. Besides, the number of playoff games hosted kind of gets to the point. However, how people feel about the team does equate to financial success, so there’s a fourth, highly scientific metric of “general vibes.” If you don’t like it, yell at me on Twitter.
For simplicity, I just took into account NFL games. Yes, TIAA Bank Field does host the AEW Stadium Stampede pro wrestling event, as my colleague Justin L. Mack pointed out, but that’s not making the cut today.
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