The SEC’s first corporate stadium naming-rights deal is coming for football, and Kentucky fans will have to get used to a new name for Commonwealth Stadium.
Kentucky is set to rename Commonwealth Stadium as Kroger Field as part of a corporate naming-rights deal with the major grocer, as reported by Patrick Loney of Scout.com.
The stadium was constructed in 1973, and is the newest in the conference.
While sponsorship deals like Kroger’s are common at basketball arenas and appear at several other football stadiums around the country, the arrangement is a first for SEC football.
Other football teams in Power Five conferences that play in stadiums named after corporate sponsors are Kentucky’s longtime rival Louisville (Papa John’s), Miami (Hard Rock), Minnesota (TCF Bank), Pittsburgh (Heinz), Rutgers (High Point Solutions), Syracuse (Carrier), Texas Tech (AT&T) and Wake Forest (BB&T).