The owner of the Akron RubberDucks was approached, over the years, by potential partners wanting to replace Canal Park with their own names. He didn’t make a deal.
Now, Ken Babby said, the time is right: Next season, the downtown Akron stadium will be known as 7 17 Credit Union Park, pending the approval of Akron City Council and Major League Baseball.
The terms of the deal — how long it is for and how much money is changing hands — were not disclosed at a press conference at the ballpark Thursday morning, though a press release from Minor League Baseball said the deal will run through 2031. John Demmler, the credit union’s president and CEO, said he wanted the partnership to last “for a long time.”
“A partner like 7 17 is like a marriage,” Babby said. “It’s really important to get it right.”
7 17 Credit Union to open branches in Akron
The announcement comes just more than a month after the almost-70-year-old credit union and the RubberDucks debuted a co-branded credit card and a deal that made 7 17 the team’s official credit union. Demmler said he sees the naming rights deal as a way to establish roots in Akron.
The credit union, based in Warren, plans to expand into Akron with three branches in the coming years in Wallhaven, Ellet and downtown. Mayor Shammas Malik said Thursday that the credit union’s intention to spend $50 million in the area to help make housing more affordable will have a “tremendous impact” on the community.
Canal Park opened in 1997 and has not had a corporate name in that time period. Babby said choosing a naming partner is a “really careful, almost surgical-like process,” and the nearly 30-year period without one “should speak to how careful and methodical we were.”
“It’s about the alignment of values,” he said.
Stadium deal will help team keep prices low, RubberDucks owner says
The current lease between the city, which owns the ballpark, and the team dates to 2012. In it, the RubberDucks agree that, over the course of the agreement, money derived from the sale of naming rights will be devoted to “renovations, improvements, enhancements, maintenance and repairs and upkeep to the Stadium,” minus the costs to replace signage.
Babby, who has owned the team since 2012, said it will help keep some tickets at $5 plus fees and hot dogs at $2.50 apiece, even when beef prices rise.
“We’re not going to change those prices,” said Jim Pfander, the RubberDucks’ president and general manager.
He added that the team and the city have put close to $18 million into renovations, from improving the bathrooms to upgrading the scoreboard. Malik said the partnership with 7 17 is the equivalent to “adding jet fuel” to the work the team is doing, while Babby said it would accelerate planned improvements, though he wouldn’t give additional details about what those improvements are.
New signs should be in place for Opening Day
Demmler said when the credit union decided to expand into Akron, it already had a relationship with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a collegiate summer baseball team. Partnering with the RubberDucks seemed like a natural choice, especially since employees of both organizations knew each other.
The conversations went on for about a year, with Demmler saying he felt like he had to sell the credit union to the team.
“It’s a dating process,” Demmler said. “We want to make sure it’s the right partner, on both sides.”
He said being named the team’s official credit union was like an engagement, a chance to see how 7 17 was received by fans before making a full commitment. The positive feedback 7 17 received, he said, was a sign to continue the relationship, and expand it.
Malik said he expects City Council to approve the naming rights agreement by October. The new signs for 7 17 Credit Union Park should be in place by Opening Day, April 2. Next season, Demmler said, 7 17 will also have a greater presence at the ballpark, including with a trailer outside the stadium and giveaways inside.
“These are the people we want to be doing business with,” Babby said. “This is the right partner, the right moment.”