Sports Authority wants out of Broncos, Rockies sponsorships – The Denver Post

Bankrupt Sports Authority wants to shed its sponsorship agreements with nine professional sports teams — including the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Rockies.

The Englewood-based sporting goods retailer is in the process of liquidating and late Friday asked a federal bankruptcy court to let it reject — court language for “get out of” — the nine agreements. The deals include benefits such as ticket-back advertisements, rotational signs, logo rights and mascot appearances.

The list of proposed rejected contracts does not include Sports Authority’s agreement with the Metropolitan Football Stadium District for naming rights to Mile High Stadium in Denver, where the Broncos play.

Other contracts Sports Authority hopes to scrap are with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, New York Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles, court records show.

Sports Authority, which is winding down its operations and conducting going-out-of-business sales at its stores, no longer benefits from the contracts, attorneys for the retailer wrote in the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

“In consultation with their advisers, (Sports Authority) concluded that the rejected contracts are unlikely to be assigned even if they are subjected to additional marketing,” Sports Authority’s attorneys wrote.

By rejecting the contracts, Sports Authority would avoid incurring additional administrative expenses, attorneys said.

If approved, the move appears to favor the Broncos, who recently sought the court’s approval to cancel the team’s sponsorship agreement with the withering retailer.

Officials for the Rockies could not be reached immediately. Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth previously said the Broncos will wait until the issue is resolved in court before commenting beyond the formal filings.

Sports Authority’s sponsorship agreement with the Broncos includes a license to use the trademarked Broncos logo, advertisements, hospitality benefits such as tickets and player appearances.

Sports Authority was under contract to pay the Broncos about $1 million a year for the sponsorship agreement. From 2011 to 2020, those annual payments increased to between $3.77 million and $5.27 million as part of Sports Authority’s stadium naming-rights agreement.

The retailer has missed two payments this year and is behind $2.1 million.

When Sports Authority assumed the stadium-naming-rights contract from Invesco Ltd. in 2011, the retailer agreed to make graduated annual payments between $6 million and $9 million, split evenly between the stadium district and the Broncos.

Sports Authority’s trademarks, intellectual property, some store leases and other contracts — potentially including the naming rights agreement — are expected to be auctioned June 23.

The stadium district has tried to block the sale or transfer of the naming rights.

Bloomberg News has reported that Sports Authority’s term-loan lenders were claiming rights to intellectual property and naming-rights contract. Sports Authority also sought to hire AccuVal to provide a second appraisal on intellectual property, trademarks and the Mile High naming rights.

A Sports Authority spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Objections to the proposed contract rejections are due June 17, with a hearing scheduled for June 28, according to court documents.