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Byrd Stadium will be known as Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium starting this season, following a $20 million, 25-year naming rights deal with the bank that the Athletics Department plans to announce today, senior Athletics Department officials said yesterday.

The money, coupled with a $35 million loan the Board of Regents granted in late June, will fund a 2,000 to 3,000 luxury-seat expansion planned for the stadium, the officials said.

The Diamondback joined select local media outlets in granting anonymity to some Athletics Department and bank officials to learn of the agreement before today's press conference.

The Chevy Chase deal is one of only a handful of naming rights agreements between Division I-A football programs and corporations. The university will become the first football program in the ACC to use corporate naming rights on its football field or stadium.

"I like that we're out in front on this, but it's more important who we're in front with," said athletic director Debbie Yow.

The university has a long-standing affiliation with Chevy Chase Bank, which has one branch in the Stamp Student Union, another off-campus in downtown College Park and ATMs all over the campus. In 1999, Chevy Chase gave the Robert H. Smith School of Business $580,000; in September, the bank donated $2 million to support internships and scholarships.

Despite the past partnerships, bank officials only showed tepid interest when an Athletics Department official broached the idea in a meeting earlier this year, an Athletics Department source said. After several months of silence, talks accelerated following a meeting involving university President Dan Mote. An agreement was only imminent after negotiations moved at "mach speed" over recent weeks, the official said.

"We've had a long relationship with the University of Maryland, and we really like the idea of strengthening that relationship," a Chevy Chase Bank official said. "This great institution produces lots of graduates, many of whom work for us."

Details of the agreement will be announced today, but the Athletics Department official said the deal did not contain as many promotional considerations as the one forged last year between a bank and another large state university - the University of Minnesota.

TCF Financial Corporation agreed to give that university $35 million for 25-year naming rights to the Gophers' future football stadium. The bank also acquired exclusive rights to build on-campus branches and extended its sponsorship of the "U Card," a multi-purpose identification card.

"I feel it's kind of the wave of the future, and you'll see as new facilities go up there will be more of a commercial side of things," said Jason Korstange, director of corporate communications for TCF. "It's a marketing tool, but it's also a gift to the university."

Smith school marketing department chairman Roland Rust said the current market for corporation-university naming right partnerships is "probably hotter than ever." He said such agreements are increasingly appealing to corporations as radio and newspapers, traditional advertising outlets, lose their audiences to iPod and Internet users, respectively.

The university plans to use the money from the naming rights deal and Regents loan to finance an expansion project. The Athletics Department is hoping to add 50 to 60 luxury suites and 500 new mezzanine seats, a type of seating currently unavailable in Byrd, the Athletics Department official said. The suites and seats are to be added to the Tyser Tower side of the stadium. A design is due in October, with construction expected to be completed by the start of the 2010 season.

The luxury additions are tailored to the wishes of the department's more affluent boosters. Football Stadium Digest publisher Kevin Reichard said those boosters might hold back future donations once they learn of the large infusion of corporate money.

"It's very rare to sell naming rights," he said. "Alumni don't feel as compelled to give money if they're selling naming rights."

Darryl Hill, the Athletics Department's director of major gifts, worked on securing a naming rights partner for the last year. He said he did not anticipate a backlash from boosters over the Chevy Chase agreement.

"I don't think it will have any negative effect at all," he said. "They welcome any private capital support. Everyone wants to join in when things are moving in a positive direction."

"Contact reporter Brendan Lowe at lowedbk@gmail.com.

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