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Telus, dear Liberals, what's in a naming right?

20.05.12

Can't believe the Liberals rejected Telus's bid to buy the naming rights to B.C. Place.

The New Democrats, sure. They'd shun the money, then rebrand the stadium as the National Heroes of Labour Pleasure Centre No. 5, or something like that.

But the Liberals? Give them $300, they would let Red Hot Video slap its half-burned-out neon sign over the front doors of the legislature. Them spurning Telus is like Charlie Sheen saying "No, thanks, I'm driving."

The offer, $35 million over 20 years, seemed in the ballpark, as it were. By comparison, it's almost twice the rate General Motors paid at the hockey rink across the street, though that price tag is believed to have shot up when GM Place became Rogers Arena in 2010.

The practice of selling naming rights to sports venues, which began when Rich Foods paid to slap its name on Buffalo's new stadium in 1973, now extends from Kamloops's Interior Savings Centre to Shanghai's Mer-cedes-Benz Arena.

Television exposure makes it particularly lucrative in the U.S., where last year 22 of 32 NFL teams played out of parks where the name had been sold, according to the Bloomberg news service. The 25-year agreement for New Jersey's MetLife Stadium is valued, depending on the source, at between $400 million and $625 million. Farmers Insurance has a 30-year, $700-million deal for a Los Angeles stadium that hasn't even been built yet.

Source: Victoria Times Colonist