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GREENSBORO — NewBridge Bancorp of Greensboro will replace First Horizon National Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., as the naming-rights holder of the Gate City's downtown baseball stadium in time for the 2008 season, corporate officials told the News & Record.

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The $22 million field will be known as NewBridge Bank Park under a 10-year agreement to run through 2017, said Donald Moore, president of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Financial terms were not released, but sources involved said they were comparable to the about $275,000 annual

rights fee First Horizon agreed to in December 2004 — five months before the Grasshoppers' home ballpark opened. That title sponsor's contract also was a 10-year arrangement, but the company's Triad expansion plans apparently have been scaled back.

"We're thankful for our relationship with First Horizon, but their strategy in the market has clearly changed," Moore said.

John Fox, First Horizon's senior vice president over the North Carolina region, said the bank wants to concentrate most of its promotion on mortgage lending and corporate banking, which are doing well.

A stadium sponsorship is a mass-market approach, more suitable to drawing consumers to branches. First Horizon has only a few branches in the Triad.

"Our commitment to North Carolina and the Triad remains very, very high," Fox said. "This is not about us withdrawing from a market. This is about an element of a strategy that no longer fits."

He said that the Grasshoppers were very helpful when First Horizon decided to change its sponsorship of the stadium, which plays host to 70 South Atlantic League baseball games a year.

And First Horizon is actually giving more to charitable causes in Greensboro this year than it did last year.

"We're not backing away from any of those things," Fox said.

NewBridge is essentially hoping its local ties, with 35 of its 40 branch locations in the Piedmont Triad, will make it a stable business partner with the Hoppers. In addition to signage, which will occupy roughly the same areas as the advertisements for First Horizon do, NewBridge will get a suite and season tickets as part of the naming-rights agreement.

"For a financial-services company like ourselves, we're interested in serving the entire community," said Pressley A. Ridgill, president of NewBridge. "The ballpark has become a reference point for people driving and walking downtown. They've had 1.25 million people attend games in three years. It means great exposure in the market."

The company and the team will formally announce the relationship this morning at NewBridge's headquarters. The Grasshoppers are expected to use the naming-rights revenue to service debt on the loan that financed stadium construction. The nonprofit Joseph M. Bryan Foundation owns the stadium.

It will be the second major business-related development for the Grasshoppers and the stadium in the past month. Construction has begun on a $450,000 renovation that will triple the ballpark's party-deck hospitality space.

NewBridge signs will be in place in three to four weeks, Moore said, but there will be few other noticeable changes.

Staff Writer Richard M. Barron contributed to this story.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com