Jacksonville arena a top-grossing venue

[tufsu1]

On a side note, Kentucky is a massive college basketball state with 3 - 20,000+ arenas: Freedom Hall (20,000), YUM! Center (22,000) and Rupp Arena (24,000).

Tell me the COJ couldnt spend an extra $20-30 million and build the arena with at least 18,000 seats...

well the new arena is replacing Freedom Hall...and don't forget they have 2 big-time college b-ball progarms in Louisville and Kentucky....when JU and/or UNF reaches that level (or even UF/FSU) in college hoops, then we can talk about needing a larger arena.

[Mattius92]

we are talking about attracting major league teams, not college teams.

[tufsu1]

we are talking about attracting major league teams, not college teams.

fine...find us an NBA or NHL team and then we can expand

[copperfiend]

we are talking about attracting major league teams, not college teams.

The arenas you mentioned in Kentucky are all home to big time college BB teams.

[Mattius92]

PEOPLE!

This is just to show you a good arena, now when I am like of voting age and an old man, and the COJ wants to build a new arena I will know what to tell them. SO HA!

Nuff Said

[Coolyfett]

whats that?

[JaxNative68]

+1

[KenFSU]

Bump for a random question:

Why is the Veterans Memorial Arena one of the very, very few U.S. arenas of its size (or smaller) to not have a corporate naming agreement in place?

I know the original plan was to seek a naming rights deal for both the arena and the baseball grounds, but I can't find much on the subject past 2004 or so.

Any ideas?

[Tacachale]

Lack of priority in certain administrations.

[I-10east]

Bump for a random question:

Why is the Veterans Memorial Arena one of the very, very few U.S. arenas of its size (or smaller) to not have a corporate naming agreement in place?

I know the original plan was to seek a naming rights deal for both the arena and the baseball grounds, but I can't find much on the subject past 2004 or so.

Any ideas?

From the get-go with the Better Jacksonville Plan's Arena debut, the city said that JVMA is the permanent name, and it's named in honor of the vets, with no 'commercial name'. The Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville is now Bragan Field (with BGAJ being a secondary name of sorts) so I have no problem with those venues names.

[Noone]

I-10 good recall with the naming issue. I believe that it was then councilman Jim Overton that led council with the naming of things that you had to be dead to get the name. Of coarse we do have exceptions. The Pat Lockett Felder monument and the Jake Godbold bldg. that is and was and still may be owned by the PFPF which is a loophole for naming buildings. Will there be a name change if the city takes ownership? There may be other examples but these are some recent ones. What's the status of the road change in Springfield?  Is that still a possibility?

[KenFSU]

From the get-go with the Better Jacksonville Plan's Arena debut, the city said that JVMA is the permanent name, and it's named in honor of the vets, with no 'commercial name'. The Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville is now Bragan Field (with BGAJ being a secondary name of sorts) so I have no problem with those venues names.

Here's a 2003 article from the Jax Daily Record.

I certainly mean no disrespect to the veterans, but it sure seems like money left on the table that the city could use for maintenance or renovation at the sports complex.

What’s in a name?
Mike Sharkey

Any day now, Better Jacksonville Plan officials expect the search for corporate sponsorship for the new baseball park and arena to begin.

Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa, said the City will hire Sheergame Renaissance to conduct a possible nationwide search to find corporations willing to spend money to have their names on the new facilities.

“We’re trying to finalize an agreement with the consulting firm,” said Mousa. “They will be responsible for going out and selling the naming rights to the ball park and the arena. We are almost there. Will we award the naming rights today? No, but we are poised to start the process immediately.”

Shortly after the National Football League awarded Jacksonville the Jaguars efforts began to find sponsorship for the stadium. Unlike the current situation with the ball park and the arena, the Jaguars were given the responsibility of finding a corporate sponsor. That search produced Alltel Communications Inc., (a Little Rock, Ark.-based wireless telecommunications and information services company) and on April 18, 1997 Jacksonville Municipal Stadium officially became Alltel Stadium.

According to City Council auditor, Bob Johnson, Alltel has an agreement with the Jaguars and the City for a little over $6 million over 10 years. That agreement commenced in 1997, was extended Feb. 1, 2000 and is good through Jan. 31, 2007. Annually, Alltel pays the Jaguars $577,049, which they split 50-50 with the City.

In Alltel, both the Jaguars and the City have gotten lucky. The company specializes in an industry that seems to be growing.

“Alltel has been a very good partner,” said Bill Prescott, vice president/chief financial officer of the Jaguars. “They have been very stable financially and a very serviceable partner. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Other cities haven’t fared so well.

In Houston, the Major League Baseball Astros began playing in Enron Field last season. Considering the recent collapse of that company and deluge of negative publicity, there is now a push in Houston to have Enron’s name taken off the park. The problem is Enron is paid up for several years, leaving the Astros in a quandary that will probably require legal action.

In Baltimore, the NFL’s Ravens have been playing in PSINet Stadium. But the logo will be coming off soon because the Ravens and the Internet company agreed to terminate the 20-year, $105 million contract that gave PSINet the right to name the stadium after the company filed for bankruptcy last week in New York.

In Boston, the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will play in brand new CMGI Stadium next year. That company is another Internet provider and servicer that was financially stable when the sponsorship agreement was reached, but is now struggling.

Locally, every effort will be made to assure that the new facilities get stable sponsorship. Mousa said he has not given Sheergame any direction concerning sponsors. He also said finding sponsorship isn’t as easy as it was a few years ago.

“I haven’t directed Sheergame on anything,” said Mousa. “It’s a matter of who’s available, their interest, the dollar value of the sponsorship and the pros and cons of their sponsorship. Ultimately, it has to go before City Council.

“Sheergame even went on to tell us how the events of Sept. 11 have slowed down the rampage of corporations wanting their names on facilities.”

Mousa said he expects the new ball park and arena to have long-term sponsorships within the next 8-10 months. While he would like to see local companies get the contracts, Mousa said it’s entirely possible the new arena could be sponsored by a company on the other side of the country.

There is plenty of local sentiment to keep both the Wolfson family name on the ball park and the Veterans Memorial Coliseum tag on the new arena. Mousa said it was possible that both facilities could adopt both the corporate name and the locally-recognized name.

Then again, a major corporation could blanket-sponsor all three facilities.

“Chances are we may have one corporation that wants to sponsor the whole sports complex. We could have Wolfson Park at the Coca-Cola Complex,” said Mousa. “We could have the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Coca-Cola Complex.”

Regardless who gets the deal, according to Mousa money won’t be the sole issue. Mousa said the sponsor also will be responsible for marketing and promoting the athletic venue as well as the City.

“There’s a lot more to look at than just the money,” said Mousa.

[thelakelander]

Of course it's money left on the table.  Same goes for wrapping the skyway.  It probably wouldn't be a big deal if we had money flowing into city hall.  However, makes you wonder, when we refuse to consider raising taxes to support ourselves while also bending over backwards to not accept funding for a variety of opportunities known nationally as being long hanging fruit.

[fsujax]

There are naming rights inside arena. Everbank suites/club, etc.

[Coolyfett]

Bump for a random question:

Why is the Veterans Memorial Arena one of the very, very few U.S. arenas of its size (or smaller) to not have a corporate naming agreement in place?

I know the original plan was to seek a naming rights deal for both the arena and the baseball grounds, but I can't find much on the subject past 2004 or so.

Any ideas?

From the get-go with the Better Jacksonville Plan's Arena debut, the city said that JVMA is the permanent name, and it's named in honor of the vets, with no 'commercial name'. The Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville is now Bragan Field (with BGAJ being a secondary name of sorts) so I have no problem with those venues names.

Yea me either, it makes total sense for the ballpark to be named Bragan.