The Golden State Warriors announced Thursday that they have agreed with JP Morgan Chase on a 20-year naming rights deal for their arena that is scheduled to open in 2019.
The 18,000-seat privately funded facility in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood will be called the Chase Center.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Frank Nakano, managing director of sports and entertainment for JP Morgan Chase, said the company will use the naming-rights deal to pitch all aspects of the bank's business, from consumer credit cards and home-mortgage financing to private money management.
The company already has its name on the Arizona Diamondbacks' stadium and is the most prominent partner at Madison Square Garden.
Nakano says he's aware that because of the arena's Silicon Valley location, the company will be expected to provide the most progressive banking technology inside the building, which will host not only the Warriors but ideally 200 other events throughout the year.
"We welcome that pressure," Nakano said. "It's very important to build our name beyond just putting it on the building."
Warriors president Rick Welts said that it was important for the team to sign a partner that had vast experience in marketing. While he wouldn't disclose how much the team was getting from the deal, the money that will now come in will better help with the financing of the $1 billion arena.
"San Francisco is the only top-25 market that doesn't have a world-class arena for sports and entertainment," Welts said. "San Franciscans have never had the opportunity to be part of the typical concert tours that go through big cities. That will now happen."
The arena efforts have not been without opposition. The current proposed site of the arena is the subject of litigation, as one recent lawsuit contends that the arena site will cause more traffic around the nearby children's hospital and will possibly delay children from getting to the hospital in emergency situations.