Slammers want confidentiality on Joliet stadium deal

The Joliet City Council Stadium Committee will make another attempt next week to find out how much the city is getting from a stadium naming rights agreement.

The amount of money Joliet is supposed to get from the naming rights deal for the city-owned stadium has not been disclosed since the agreement was announced May 21.

A Slammers executive said Wednesday that the team wants to keep it that way.

“All of our sponsorship agreements are confidential between us and the client,” said Slammers Vice President for Sales and Marketing John Wilson.

Wilson said he will be at a stadium committee meeting that is being tentatively arranged for Tuesday.

Committee Chairman Pat Mudron said he will seek to make the naming rights agreement with DuPage Medical Group public.

“I think that’s what we’re supposed to do as a public body,” Mudron said.

Mudron said Wednesday that he has not seen the agreement, does not know how much DuPage Medical Group is paying and does not know the length of the agreement.

“The length and the dollar amount is what is confidential,” Wilson said.

Wilson said disclosing the amount DuPage Medical pays would hurt the Slammers the next time they negotiate a naming rights agreement.

“It takes all your leverage away in the negotiation process,” Wilson said.

Silver Cross Hospital paid $150,000 a year in a 15-year agreement that expired at the end of 2016, the only naming rights agreement for the stadium until now.

Interim City Manager Martin Shanahan on June 3 told the stadium committee the new agreement is a five-figure deal, although he would not disclose the amount. Shanahan has said he will ensure that the city gets its fair share from the agreement, although he has given mixed answers as to whether he has read it.

The Slammers’ lease makes the team the exclusive agent for the city in negotiating a naming rights agreement subject to approval by the city.

Shanahan last week announced he formally approved the agreement by creating a memorandum of understanding with the Slammers. Mudron has said he believes the agreement should go to the council for approval.