UC Berkeley's Football Field Now Brought To You By Kabam

The University of California, Berkeley has announced that the naming rights for the field at Memorial Stadium will go to Kabam, a maker of free video games headquartered in San Francisco. For $18 million, Kabam will get their name plastered on the field at the 25-yard lines and some signage at the 50-yard line for the next 15 years.

The New York Times reports:

Starting in 2014, the playing area will be known as Kabam Field for the next 15 years, at a cost to the mobile games maker of $18 million.

It is a first of a kind deal for the university, and possibly the first time a gaming company has put its name on a college field.

Kabam, which makes some free but apparently popular titles like "The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age" and "Kingdoms of Camelot," will also be doing a some more academic side projects. According to the New York Times, the gaming company will also be creating scholarship and internship programs, donating to the library, and creating an on-campus "innovation lab" as well as an interactive gaming zone at the stadium.

Kabam's co-founder and CEO Kevin Chou is a Berkeley graduate himself, as are two of the company's other co-founders, and they're all probably pretty bummed to see their Golden Bears having a startlingly bad 1-11 season this year.

[NYT]
[CalGoldenBlogs]