Red Bull Arena is open for business

In a piece getting short shrift from some fans for a fanciful (now apparently deleted) reference to escalators, Peter Schwartz sings the praises of Red Bull Arena for CBS New York.

It is quite a song.

Red Bull Arena is literally a Sacha Kljestan corner kick away from the Prudential Center in Newark

No. No, it isn't. Even if Sacha were capable of kicking a dead ball about a mile or so, he wouldn't be taking corners on the regular if that were his habit.

But the piece is clearly not intended for fans regularly in attendance at the Arena. It is an attempt to reach out to new audiences. Or those who organize and book the events that those new audiences might want to attend.

Punctuating the breathless praise for the stadium is a series of pertinent points about the New York Red Bulls' ambitions for the stadium. Marc de Grandpre is quoted on the subject of possible future collaboration with the New Jersey Devils. The subject of stadium naming rights is mentioned again. And it is revealed RBNY has hired a consultant to help the club figure out ways to get the stadium on the map for concerts and other events.

The rest of the piece is a concerted effort to sell the stadium's facilities and experience hosting non-soccer events.

RBNY has been working at developing new revenue streams for a while now. Marc de Grandpre has presided over a succession of new partnerships and quasi-sponsorship deals. The New York Red Bulls - a soccer team owned and sponsored by a drinks company - have an official agricultural machinery partner (Yanmar), an official luxury automotive partner (Audi), and an official credit union (Affinity).

At least two of those partnerships have already seen players (or their likenesses, in the case of Affinity) pressed into the service of advertising the products of the sponsors.

Looking forward to Yanmar's ad. Once A Metro very much wants to see Mike Grella and Luis Robles racing tractors.

The latest ad article in a major local news outlet showering RBA in a rain of purple prose is a reminder that the Arena (and RBNY) is open for new business.