Barclays, which is developing its brand in the US, has paid to have its name added to one of the busiest subway stations in New York in the first deal of its kind.
Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street Station in Brooklyn will have Barclays added to name after the British bank paid more than $300 million for the naming rights to a nearby sports stadium - the 18,000-seat Barclays Center.
This is the first time that naming rights to a New York subway station have been sold and the subway authority, which is attempting to cover a $1 billion budget deficit, hopes to make similar deals in the future.
The name change will not come into effect until the stadium opens in 2012. As part of its deal with Barclays, Forest City Ratner, the developer of the venue, added the naming rights to the station. The new name will be Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street-Barclays Center Station.
More than 10 million people pass through the station each day as they change between nine subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. Atlantic Avenue is the second busiest station in Brooklyn and the fourth busiest in New York, which helped push the value of its naming rights to $4 million, to be paid over 20 years.
The Barclays Center is part of a 22-acre, $4 billion development being undertaken by Bruce Ratner, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA basketball team. The Nets will make the center their home arena when it opens.
Use our career calculator for a fun look at how you might fit inside the world of Barclays.
