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Sports Illustrated owner Authentic has facilitated a 13-year naming rights agreement that will rebrand the New York Red Bulls’ home into Sports Illustrated Stadium, as the licensing company leverages the brand’s recognition beyond print and online publishing.
The contract values the rights for the Harrison, N.J., venue in the nine figures (more than $100 million), according to a source familiar with the agreement.
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It was Sports Illustrated Tickets, which is independent from the famed media publication and pays Authentic for the rights to use the 70-year-old publication’s name, that signed the stadium rights deal with MLS club owner Red Bull. While Sports Illustrated Tickets and Sports Illustrated are separate businesses, the latter company does promote the other’s marketplace on its website.
Red Bull, a beverage maker, bought full control of the stadium—previously known as Red Bull Arena—in 2007.
SI Tickets will be the official ticketing partner for all events at the stadium, including Gotham FC matches, concerts, and international soccer events, starting in 2026. Digital “Sports Illustrated Fan Covers” will be given to visitors, and a 1,000-person VIP “Club SI” area will offer premium experiences. Other potential tie-ins include soccer-related images from SI’s past adorning the walls around the concourse.
“This is a naming rights partnership that brings together two iconic brands in the world of sports to really come together to elevate the fan experience,” New York Red Bulls President Marc de Grandpré said. “We’re excited to … really change the landscape of fan experiences, sports, and entertainment in the New York area.”
Sports Illustrated Tickets has been operated by CEO David Lane since its launch in 2021. The platform has partnered with Venmo, joined Ticketmaster and Seatgeek as the only official licensed channels of the NFL Ticket Network, and brought on Drew Brees as an investor, acting as one of the more stable SI-related licensees for Authentic since it acquired Sports Illustrated in 2019.
“For Sports Illustrated, there’s the media side, and today there’s the live event side,” Lane said. “We’re a real opportunity to grow the brand and reintroduce it to a whole new generation of fans.”
SI’s editorial future came into doubt earlier this year, when then-publisher The Arena Group announced the brand’s final print issue would run in May. However, Authentic found a new manager for the operation in Minute Media this March in a deal that could last a decade or more.
In the meantime, Authentic has identified partners to extend the SI brand into events, resorts, youth sports programming, nutritional products and betting.
Lane said there was never a thought of specifically asking for the venue to be called Sports Illustrated Tickets Stadium, and instead wants to bring the various elements of SI’s current business to bear in North Jersey. Last year, LAFC and BMO set an MLS record with a 10-year, approximately $100 million stadium naming rights deal for a soccer-specific stadium.
“Seventy years of iconic history is what we are representing in everything that we do,” Lane said. “This is the next phase—the next era, I think—for Sports Illustrated.”
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