Image Credit: Chris66ftw - Wikimedia Commons

Like American Airlines, AT&T and Target, PNC Financial now possesses the naming rights to two professional sports venues stadiums. They include PNC Park in Pittsburgh, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and PNC Arena in Raleigh, home of the Carolina Hurricanes. After spending ten seasons branded as the RBC Center (Royal Bank of Canada), the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes will be playing in freshly named PNC Arena.

PNC Financial has purchased RBC, thus, inheriting the naming rights to the arena. The bank is becoming a banking powerhouse by acquisition after already purchasing National City Bank a few years back. There were more than 600 RBC references throughout the arena and the arena grounds that had to be changed or altered, a process that took close to six months. The process also costed the franchise around $1M in labor and fees. Still, a process that had to be done. PNC Arena is not just an NHL arena either, it is also home to college basketball's North Carolina State University Wolfpack.

The city of Raleigh, North Carolina inherited the Hurricanes in 1997 when Peter Karmanos moved the Whalers out of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford struggled in a sports market torn between New York City and Boston. For the franchise's first two seasons in North Carolina, the Hurricanes played their games in Greensboro at the old Greensboro Coliseum. Attendance was poor but has stayed steady since the Hurricanes brought the Stanley Cup to Raleigh in 2005. Many speculate that the acquisition will create a huge rate of unemployment of former RBC workers. However, PNC officials have stated that they are trying to maintain as many workers as possible at local branches. 

 

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