Veterans outraged at possibility of selling Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena

[thelakelander]

Members of the Alvin Brown administration are looking to change the name of Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena — and many veterans are outraged.

"How this all came up was the City Council in the meeting last week wanted to know were there other revenue opportunities out there," the city's Sports and Entertainment Executive Director Alan Verlander said.

During that Nov. 12 meeting, the mayor's Chief of Staff, Chris Hand, brought up the idea of supplementing revenue of the downtown sports complex by selling the naming rights of the arena and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

"These clearly are other revenue opportunities," Verlander said.

full article: http://members.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-11-19/story/veterans-outraged-possibility-selling-jacksonville-veterans-memorial

[BridgeTroll]

I'm not outraged... 

[thelakelander]

I'm not a veteran but I'm not outraged either. We have to generate additional revenue some type of way. Although the Jags got all the money, no one has lost any sleep over the adjacent stadium being named Everbank Field.

[mbwright]

I just think that if the naming rights are sold for any facility, it should go towards the building repair fund, not the current tenants.

[Noone]

WOW!
Someone needs to contact the new guy Vitti. Any guidance for naming things?
On a side note how about the naming rights for a kayak launch and bike rack that can be next to the armory that is active legislation 2013-384. The bike rack can be named for a cyclist that had been killed on Duval county roadways. I'm serious.

[KenFSU]

My Dad is a veteran, and I have all the respect in the world for those who have served in our armed forces, but if there's money on the table, you have to take it. For a city of Jacksonville's size, it's frankly ridiculous that a corporate naming sponsor hasn't been in place since day one. It's the goofy little things like this that really combine to hold Jacksonville back. Kansas City got $62.5 million over 25 years from Sprint for naming rights to its downtown arena, despite having no major league tenet. You'd think Jacksonville would be leaving no stone unturned to secure an agreement even half of that.

[acme54321]

WOW!
Someone needs to contact the new guy Vitti.

The schools superintendant?

[pierre]

I am a veteran. So is my father. Both of my grandfathers were as was an uncle and many other friends and relatives.

It's the name of a building. It honestly means nothing. The memorial a few blocks away honors veterans alot more than the name of an arena does.

[KenFSU]

^ Really appreciate you and your family, Pierre.

[Dapperdan]

Compromise maybe?
Verizon Veterans Arena?

[coredumped]

Isn't there a law on the books that says it must remain Veterans Memorial? Or am I thinking of the baseball grounds?

[thelakelander]

Nothing that can't be changed.

[Noone]

Isn't there a law on the books that says it must remain Veterans Memorial? Or am I thinking of the baseball grounds?

As I recall then Jacksonville city councilman Jim Overton was involved in the debate. Maybe there is and Ord. or a resolution that specifically addressed this building.

[thelakelander]

The answer is in the linked article:

Dowling, Lt. Col. Bob Adelhelm and other veterans, including two now-deceased World War II veterans, fought against selling the naming rights and won a major victory when City Council passed ordinance 2002-428-E.

"The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena shall not bear the name of any individual or company or any other thing as any part of the title, but shall be designated only as 'Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena,' " the ordinance states.

This means that, in order to change the name, at least 10 council members would have to vote for it. The mayor could then sign the legislation; allow it to become law without his signature; or veto it. If Brown did choose to veto, the council would require 13 votes to override it.

[JeffreyS]

Just name it something like the CSX Veterans Arena. I am sure most companies would love the Veterans name association.