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Now, the Winona State University football stadium is officially Maxwell Field at Alltel Stadium.
For third time in as many years, the stadium could be renamed.
On Thursday, Verizon Wireless agreed to buy Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion, which would make it by far the largest cellular carrier in the U.S.
Verizon Wireless would also assume $22.2 billion in debt in the deal, bringing the total value to $28.1 billion, the parties said Thursday.
WSU Athletic Director Larry Holstad said he was surprised by the news and doesn’t know what it will mean for the stadium name.
A name and signage change would be the responsibility of Verizon, Holstad said.
Midwest Wireless paid $250,000 in 2004 for the rights to name the stadium. Midwest Wireless sold to Alltel on July 9, 2005. Alltel paid for the sign change previously.
The deal between the two cell phone giants comes just seven months after Alltel was taken private by TPG Capital and a unit of Goldman Sachs Group.
They paid $24.7 billion for the stock and took on $2.7 billion in debt, bringing the value of that deal to $27.4 billion.
CenturyTel, whose Midwest region headquarters are in La Crosse, Wis., sold its wireless division to Alltel in 2002. Alltel has 13.2 million subscribers in 34 states, mainly in rural areas away from the coasts. Added to Verizon Wireless’ 67.2 million subscribers, the size of the combined company would surpass the current U.S. cellular leader AT&T Inc., with 71.4 million subscribers.
The parties expect the deal to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approvals. The deal is likely to face scrutiny by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, but analysts expect it to pass.
xfs-123 wrote on Jun 6, 2008 11:36 AM:
Verizon is bogus too and I am glad I am not part of any their nonsense (services).
As much trouble as I have with Qwest and US West before that, their digital cell service is pretty good and they have reasonable pkgs and a good selection of phones. Qwest biggest problem is stupid Customer Service reps. Can't get the same story from any of them and they all think they know more than they do. "