If the council approves the contract with the national naming rights company, Tacoma could soon learn the estimated value of naming rights for the Tacoma Dome, Cheney Stadium and the new Greater Tacoma Convention Center. It also will discover which companies might pay to put their names on those publicly-owned facilities.
"More and more convention and conference centers are looking at naming rights to provide additional income for construction and to offset operating expenses," says Mike Combs, director of Public Assembly Facilities. "It's also an exciting opportunity for us to partner with area companies that may want to reinforce their brands in our market."
The naming rights business has boomed since the late 1980s. The Buffalo Bills were the first to sell the naming rights to a stadium in the late 1970s when Rich Foods put its company name up on the marquee. Now the practice has expanded to include everything from selling the pouring rights for drink manufacturers at public facilities to offering the names of civic buildings to the highest bidder.
The Superlative Group's process for the City of Tacoma would have three phases:-- Assess the marketplace to determine the value of naming rights for each facility (90 days).
-- Develop a blueprint for how to implement a naming rights plan and determine who are suitable customers (30 days).
-- Implement sale (six months to a year).
According to Brian Hicks, manager of municipal marketing for the Superlative Group, most naming rights sales are locally or regionally based-larger local companies that want to build or reinforce a national brand are the customers.
"We present naming rights to municipalities as an alternative form of raising revenues without raising taxes, thus providing new funding for programs and services that cities can provide to their residents," Hicks says.
The council vote on Tuesday night is only for the first phase of the proposed project, which, if approved, should be completed by June 1.
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