Los Angeles-based entertainment marketing firm AEG has convinced auto maker Mercedes-Benz to sponsor the US$280 million sports arena it is developing in Shanghai, the Los Angeles Times reported. The facility is being developed by AEG, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Oriental Pearl Group, a divison of Shanghai Media Entertainment Group. The arena is intended to be completed in time for the Shanghai World Expo which starts in May, but it will not change its name to the Mercedes-Benz Arena until 2011. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but industry experts estimate that the fee paid by Mercedes-Benz to AEG is likely to be significantly higher that the US$120 million office supply retain chain Staples paid to put its name on Los Angeles’s downtown arena. The stadium would be the first to bear the Mercedes-Benz brand outside of Germany.
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