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Rochester Rhinos will now play in 'Capelli Sport Stadium'

Sasha-Ann Simons
/
WXXI News

Rochester's soccer stadium has a new name and a new marketing deal. It was announced today that the stadium will now be called Capelli Sport Stadium, named after a New York City based sports equipment company.

As part of the deal, Capelli Sport will provide all official club uniforms, training gear and merchandise.

Jason Arnold is sporting director for Capelli. He says partnering with Wendy and David Dworkin, who bought the Rochester Rhinossoccer team last year, just made a lot of sense.

“We look at the various opportunities and we look at Rochester and the opportunity here and the history of the club , it’s hard not to get excited about that ; the club’s been around for 22 years , many championships on and off the field, it fits perfectly for us.”

There is no word yet how long the marketing deal is for, but the Dworkins say it will also open up the possibility of bringing other events to the stadium, because of the global connections that Capelli has.

“We think the stadium can be a venue that is fantastic in Western New York., and to the extent that Capelli can help us make those inroads into other possible events at the stadium, that’s going to help not only us but certainly the city of Rochester because the people are going to come in, they’re going to stay in hotels, they’re going to eat in restaurants, so we believe that Capelli will help outreach to other possible events,” David Dworkin said at the Tuesday announcement.

Wendy Dworkin says the deal will also help the Rhinos reach out to the youth soccer community.

“Part of the beauty of the relationship with Capelli Sport is their experience in the youth market so they will be help us reach out to the youth soccer market throughout Rochester with events and just helping everything that we do on the youth soccer side.”

Mayor Lovely Warren says the new marketing deal will enhance Rochester’s position as a regional destination for fans of professional soccer.

This is the fourth name for the stadium in the last dozen years.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.
Sasha-Ann Simons joined the team at WXXI News in 2015 as a Multimedia Reporter/Producer. She tells stories about the innovation economy and technology in upstate New York and also does general assignment reporting. Sasha-Ann is the host of Arts InFocus, WXXI-TV's weekly arts and culture program. She is also a fill-in host and regular contributor to Need To Know.