On Wednesday, a gaggle of higher-ups for the Tampa Bay Lightning gathered outside of a building that has brought a lot of joy to fans for almost three decades. It’s a building that has a few names in the past, and now, for an unspecified time into the future, will have a new one. It began life as the Ice Palace, celebrated the organization’s first Stanley Cup as the St. Pete Times Forum. Then it sat quietly as the Tampa Bay Times Forum as the organization rebuilt itself under a new owner. In 2014 we all asked, who the heck is Amalie, and where did they get the money to take over the branding rights? After two more Stanley Cup celebrations, we really didn’t care.
Now, it seems fitting, that as ownership transitions from Jeff Vinik to Doug Ostover and Marc Lipshultz that another new name will adorn the building at 401 Channelside. The organization revealed that Benchmark International, a merger and acquisitions firm, has secured the branding rights to the building. Down go the references to Amalie, and up go the signs for Benchmark, a company that has their global headquarters in West Shore.
As usual with these types of deals, the actual financial terms were not released, but it’s likely to be a considerable chunk of change. According to The Tampa Bay Times, last year Lenovo paid the Carolina Hurricanes $60 million for a ten-year agreement for the naming rights to their building. Since the Vinik Sports Group leases the building directly from Tampa Sports Authority, and they are the sole sports tenant, they don’t have to worry about splitting the money with anyone. Also, since it’s not consider hockey-related revenue, they don’t have to worry about splitting it with the players, either.
Despite being one of the older buildings in the league (only 10 other arenas are older) the newly christened Benchmark Arena is aging gracefully. A major renovation in 2012 helped modernize the building and brought forth the iconic Tesla coils. Various smaller renovations over the last decade have helped make it one of the best venues in sports and entertainment.
In 2021, it was ranked fourth by fans in a survey conducted by The Athletic. It also ranks as the 24th highest grossing entertainment venue according to Billboard in 2024. International music acts, non-hockey sporting events, and even a political convention have been hosted by the building.
While the financial terms weren’t announced, the ownership group and Benchmark announced that, as part of the deal, the two entities will combine to donate $3 million to local nonprofits over the life of the agreement. It might be the waning days of Jeff Vinik’s involvement with the organization, but his spirit of giving back to the community appears to live on with the new owners.
Honestly, not seeing Mr. Vinik in the press photos is the oddest part of the announcement. He has become such an ingrained part of the organization and community that his absence today drove home the fact that he’s not the majority owner any longer.
