DeNA contracts Oak View Group to sell naming rights for the Kawasaki! Arena City Project

TOKYO, JAPAN – January 31, 2025 – DeNA Co., Ltd. and Oakview Group Europe (OVG) have entered into an agreement to sell naming rights and partnerships for the Kawasaki! Arena City Project with the aim of maximizing its commercial value. This agreement marks the first ever commercial partnership formed between OVG and an arena developer in Japan.

DeNA is a Japan based company that is expanding its business globally in a wide range of areas such as games and live streaming. In Japan, DeNA owns professional sports teams in baseball, basketball, and soccer, and is involved in building cities of the future centered around sports.

Currently, the Kawasaki! Arena City Project is being driven forward in cooperation with Keikyu Corporation in Kawasaki, Japan. The entertainment complex will have at its center an arena which will serve as the home of DeNA’s professional basketball team, the Kawasaki Brave Thunders, as well as hosting global music artists and various sports and entertainment events. The planned site aims to become a world-class entertainment complex which welcomes guests not only from within Japan but from all over the world, as it is conveniently located only 13 minutes away from Haneda International Airport, and adjacent to Keikyu Kawasaki Station, making it one of the world’s most accessible arenas by public transportation. As the first step toward becoming a truly international venue, DeNA has chosen to partner with OVG who have a proven track record of international success in owning, operating and commercializing arenas.

The partnership will aim to develop commercial strategies and relationships with global sponsors who are looking to engage with fans through the Kawasaki! Arena City Project.  

Nobuo Motozawa, Head of the Kawasaki Development Office, Sports & Smart City Business Unit, DeNA, and Chairman of the Kawasaki Brave Thunders:
It is with great pleasure that we announce our partnership with OVG who we hold in high regard as a global sports and entertainment strategy & sales leader. With the Kawasaki! Arena City Project, we passionately challenge ourselves every day to create a world-class arena of the highest global standard. I would like to thank OVG for believing in the future potential of the city of Kawasaki and choosing to embark on this journey with us while sharing our passion to achieve this vision. We will continue to challenge ourselves moving forward to make certain that we create the world’s benchmark with this arena city.

Sam Piccione, President, Sales, International, Oak View Group:
OVG is proud to partner with DeNA and the Kawasaki Brave Thunders to develop a bespoke commercial strategy and sales narrative that will entice global brands to join this project as the naming rights partner of this incredible new arena aimed at opening in 2030. We look forward to pairing our unmatched experience of successfully selling dozens and dozens of venue naming rights in capital markets around the world with DeNA’s local passion for creating a one of a kind community asset with this new arena.

Wataru Kawasaki, President and Representative Director of the Kawasaki Brave Thunders:
The Kawasaki! Arena City Project is a very ambitious project that will create a world-class sports and entertainment hub in Kawasaki, as well as fulfilling a dream of building a home arena for the Kawasaki Brave Thunders. We are delighted to be working on this project with Oak View Group, a world leader in sports and entertainment consulting and sponsorship sales.

About DeNA
At DeNA (pronounced "D-N-A") we engage in a variety of businesses, from games and live communities to sports & the community and healthcare & medical, under our mission to delight people beyond their wildest dreams. Since our founding, DeNA has produced many businesses leveraging our passionate and enterprising employees and our technological capabilities. We develop and operate high value add services that capture customer needs through our usage of AI technology and our unique data analysis methods to maximize business value and solve problems. DeNA Co., Ltd. is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (2432). For more information, visit: dena.com/intl/.

About Kawasaki Brave Thunders
The Kawasaki Brave Thunders are a professional basketball club belonging to the “B.LEAGUE” and has been active in Kawasaki City as its hometown for over 70 years since its establishment in 1950. The team has won the league championship four times and the Emperor's Cup five times, including the time of its predecessor, the Toshiba Basketball Club, and won the Emperor's Cup twice in a row in 2021 and 2022. The team is due to play in B.LEAGUE PREMIER, a new top-tier league starting in the 2026-27 season.

About OVG
Oak View Group (OVG) is the global leader in live experience venue development, management, premium hospitality and commercial services, and 360-degree solutions for a collection of world-class owned venues and a client roster of arenas, convention centers, music festivals, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions. Founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff in 2015, OVG is the leading developer of major new venues either open or under development across four continents. Visit OakViewGroup.com, and follow OVG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.