Syracuse University has finally extricated itself from one of the worst stadium naming rights agreements ever made. As bad as it was, the question is whether it was worse than the current Colorado Rockies’ deal.

The sports business publication Sportico reported, “Syracuse University’s iconic Carrier Dome is no more. The school has reached a settlement with Carrier Global Corp. to end the company’s perpetual naming rights deal for the football and basketball venue. … Thus ends one of the longest running and most sponsor-friendly naming rights agreements in sports history. Carrier gave the school a $2.75 million gift back in 1979 during construction of the building, securing naming rights for the lifetime of the venue. Forty-three years later, the Carrier Dome is among the most recognizable buildings in college basketball and college football. … The dome would likely command upwards of $3.25 million per year on the open market.”

Meanwhile, Denverites may recall that Coors got a sweetheart deal when it received the permanent naming rights to the Rockies’ stadium when it invested $30 million in the ownership group back in 1991. Coors later sold that ownership stake in 2013 for an estimated $75 million, but that transaction did not affect the naming rights agreement. So, Coors actually made $45 million “buying” the permanent naming rights to Coors Field.

My back-of-the-envelope calculations say that Syracuse left about $45-50 million on the table with its deal, while the Rockies have missed out on about $35 million. However, Syracuse’s deal has now expired while the Rockies’ continues. With naming rights valued at about $4 million per year (the Pepsi Center’s deal is for $3.4 million annually while Empower Field is $6 million per year), the Rockies will officially become the worse deal in 2025.

• The Colorado Association of Realtors predicts that the average single-family home price in Denver may reach $1 million by June.
  • That probably seems like a bargain to new Broncos QB Russell Wilson, who along with his wife Ciara just dropped $25 million on a new house in Cherry Hills.
• Meanwhile, Denver was ranked as one of the five least affordable cities in the country, behind only San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Miami. That clicking sound you hear is millions of local millennial and Gen-Z renters Googling “trendy, affordable cities.”
• The organizers of the Cherry Creek Sneak, one of the metro area’s oldest and largest running events, announced this will be its final year. Event director Pat Downing said registration numbers “fell off a cliff” following the pandemic.
• The EPA is attempting to reclassify nine Front Range counties between Fort Collins and Castle Rock as “severe” violators of federal ozone standards.
• The Colorado Rockies’ commitment to owning fourth place in its five-team division is impressive. An analysis of the values of MLB teams was released this week, and the Rockies placed fourth in the NL West at $1.4 billion, ahead of only the Arizona Diamondbacks.
  • And, this week, Thrillist ranked the food at all 30 MLB ballparks, and the Rockies once again placed fourth, this time behind the L.A. Dodgers. The publication noted the stadium’s Rocky Mountain Oysters, plentiful microbrews and the Helton burger as the best options available.
• CNN launched its CNN+ streaming service to great fanfare several weeks ago, and it is already flopping. The network planned to invest approximately $1 billion in the service over the next four years, but low adoption rates – reportedly fewer than 10,000 viewers per day – have caused CNN to significantly lower both its investment and subscriber projections.
• NFL quarterback Cam Newton has a history of making ill-advised comments, and he stayed on-brand this week when he complained in an interview about women “who can’t cook” and who “don’t know when to be quiet.”
• Amazon announced it is adding a 5% “fuel and inflation surcharge” for third-party sellers who use the site. For those keeping track, the online retailer reported profits of $33.4 billion in 2021.
• It was not a good week for male actors. Cuba Gooding, Jr. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of forcibly touching a woman at a New York City nightclub in 2018 and “Game of Thrones” actor Joseph Gatt was arrested for allegedly engaging in sexually explicit communications with a minor.
  • Meanwhile, Frank Langella was dropped from the Netflix show “The Fall of the House of Usher” after allegations of on-set sexual harassment and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Molly Shannon revealed that she was sexually harassed by the late “Diff’rent Strokes” actor Gary Coleman.

So, who won the week?

• The University of Denver Pioneers won the NCAA ice hockey championship, tying the record for most all-time ice hockey championships with the University of Michigan at nine.
• DIA ranked as the third-busiest U.S. airport in 2021, and was one of only four in the world to serve more than 50 million passengers.
• Jerry Schemmel returned to the 850 KOA Rockies broadcast after a two-year absence. Schemmel was laid off in 2020 as part of 900 jobs cut by iHeartMedia.
• University of Colorado interim President Todd Saliman was named the sole finalist for the permanent position.
• Shortly after NFL legend Tom Brady announced his retirement in February, an anonymous bidder won an auction for the football that Brady threw for his final touchdown pass. Twenty-four hours later, Brady unretired. This week, the auction house announced that it has voided the auction and the “winner” doesn’t have to pay the $518,000 bid afterall.