New Rosemont baseball stadium to be called Impact Field
The new independent league baseball stadium under construction in Rosemont will be called Impact Field, after Impact Networking and the Chicago Dogs baseball team inked a 12-year naming rights deal.
The Lake Forest-based company, a business process optimization firm, will have its branding throughout the $62.9 million, 6,300-seat stadium at the intersection of Balmoral Avenue and Pearl Street, west of the Tri-State Tollway, including a permanent "Impact Field" sign atop a double-sided digital scoreboard facing the tollway.
The company will also have access to a year-round technology suite in the stadium to show off software products to clients and potential clients. Financial terms of the naming rights deal were not disclosed.
"What we're trying to do is get more name recognition for the company, and make it easier for our 112 salespeople - when they go into people's offices - that they know who we are ahead of time versus it being a cold call," Impact Networking CEO Frank Cucco said Wednesday as part of Mayor Brad Stephens' annual State of the Village address.
Under a 20-year lease agreement for the village-owned stadium, Chicago Dogs co-owners Shawn Hunter and Steven Gluckstern were responsible for finding a naming rights sponsor, as well as a dozen other sponsors whose ads will be displayed on outfield walls. The owners and village will share annual sponsorship revenues, with the owners getting the first $1.3 million, and the remainder divided 60 percent to the owners and 40 percent to the village.
Impact Networking, founded in Waukegan in 1999, has had a corporate sponsorship with the Chicago Blackhawks since 2008, in which it advertises on dasherboards and LED boards throughout the United Center. That deal runs through 2021.
The company also has a two-year sponsorship deal with the Chicago Cubs through the end of this season, and this year, it signed an agreement with the Chicago Bulls.
"Impact's sports partnerships give us the chance to interact with our clients and the community in a meaningful way," Cucco said.
The company, with 450 employees at 15 locations throughout the Midwest, uses automation to help businesses reduce redundant, manual or paper-based processes, leading to increased efficiency, according to its website.
Earlier Wednesday, the Rosemont village board approved a new $62.9 million guaranteed maximum price for the stadium and 3-level, 800-space garage. Initial cost projections when Stephens announced plans for the stadium during his State of the Village address in 2015 were $50 million to $60 million.
The village is paying for the stadium and projects across the street at the planned Pearl District mixed use area by borrowing up to $100 million.
"It will be so state-of-the-art that the folks in Schaumburg said they need to spend $13 million to compete with us," said Stephens, referencing a consultant's report last month that recommended upgrades to Schaumburg Boomers Stadium. The village hasn't yet acted on the report and officials have indicated that any upgrades will be done incrementally to reduce the financial impact.
The Chicago Dogs, part of the 12-team American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, a Durham, North Carolina-based league, will begin play next May.