The next name for EverBank Field, fan-shortened to “The Bank,” should be announced in early 2018.
It might remain EverBank Field or it might take on a new name.
Blake Wilson, president and CEO of TIAA, FSB in Jacksonville since June and former president and COO of EverBank, said Friday research is ongoing to rebrand the company and the stadium.
EverBank Financial Corp. has had the naming rights to the stadium since 2010, when it signed a five-year, $16.6 million naming rights deal.
The team agreed to a 10-year, $43 million extension in 2014 through the 2024 season.
Wilson isn’t saying what the stadium will be named, but he is saying when it might be public.
The announcement with the Jacksonville Jaguars is expected in the first quarter.
That also means the bank’s name will be known by then.
The names of the bank and the stadium have sparked questions since August 2016, when New York-based TIAA, a financial services provider, announced it would buy EverBank.
It completed the transaction June 12 and merged its bank subsidiary — St. Louis-based TIAA Direct — into EverBank and said Jacksonville would be the bank headquarters.
While the new, combined bank’s legal entity name is TIAA, FSB, the company said the bank will continue to use the TIAA Direct and EverBank brands.
“The bank expects to maintain a strong presence and active role in the local community,” the bank said in the release announcing the completed acquisition.
TIAA President and CEO Roger Ferguson Jr. told reporters after a JAXUSA Partnership meeting in February that the combined bank’s name was being assessed by marketing professionals.
“We want to make sure it’s thoughtfully done,” he said.
He assured the 500 guests at the meeting that TIAA was committed “to continuing the positive relationship that EverBank and the Jacksonville Jaguars have had over the past few years.”
The Jaguars are working with EverBank on the stadium branding, Wilson said Friday.
“Research still is being done,” he said after he spoke to the JAX Chamber Downtown Council meeting at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.
Internal and outside marketing experts are working on it, he said.
The stadium could be called by the new banking name or it might take on a complementary name, he said.
How about “The Bank”?
“The fans like it. We like it,” Wilson said.
But “everything is on the table.”
