CenturyLink’s Qwest Acquisition Leads to Renaming of Seattle Stadium

The home of the National Football League’s (NFL) Seattle Seahawks and Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit Seattle Sounders has a new name following the acquisition of Qwest by CenturyLink.

The 67,000 seater stadium has been known as Qwest Field since 2004, but will become CenturyLink Field as part of a rebranding exercise that has accelerated since CenturyLink’s takeover in April.

The naming rights agreement was actually negotiated seven years ago, though the terms are believed to be unchanged, with CenturyLink taking over the US$75m ten year contract. The deal is due to expire at the end of 2014, with a five year renewal option option according to The Seattle Times.

The stadium opened in 2002 and was originally known as Seahawks Stadium, until a naming rights deal was agreed, construction cost some US$430m.

Qwest was purchased by fellow telecommunications company CenturyLink in April for a total of US$22.4bn, including some US$11.8bn of debt.