Naming rights for convention center?

[thelakelander]

Was this ever debated during our recent convention center study?  Its not $200 million, but $250k annually is not a bad thing for a cash strapped community.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2007/11/tampa-considers.html

TAMPA -- The region already has Raymond James Stadium, the St. Pete Times Forum and Tropicana Field.

Now Mayor Pam Iorio is considering selling naming rights to the Tampa Convention Center.

"We're just fact-finding right now. We're finding out what other communities of like size have done to see if it's even feasible," Iorio said.

In a time of tight revenue for local governments, Iorio said she needs to consider every option for new money.

"The Convention Center is a venue that's going to constantly need upgrades to maintain its competitiveness," she said.

Preliminary research shows that naming rights could be worth about $250,000 a year, which could come in the form of cash, upgrades to the downtown Convention Center, or a combination of the two, said center director John Moors.

If the city goes forward with the sale of naming rights, it could be in place next fiscal year, he said.

Janet Zink, Times staff writer

[Jason]

Sounds like Tampa is thinking outside of the box.  Why not sell naming rights for the convention center, even if it garners half of that.  Every penny that can be scraped up for the benefit of the center/community without touching tax dollars is better for all of us.

[vicupstate]

Greenville recently sold the naming rights to it's convention center.  It is now called the 'Carolina First Center', after the locally HQed bank that boughts the naming rights.  I believe the deal is $300,000 per year for ten years. 

The funds will be used to help pay for a massive renovation now underway.   

[thelakelander]

Anyone know if this was discussed during our recent CC study?

[Dapperdan]

We can't even sell the rights for our stadium. Why would we even try to sell it for our tiny little convention center?

[vicupstate]

We can't even sell the rights for our stadium. Why would we even try to sell it for our tiny little convention center?

Because the price is MUCH, MUCH lower, therefore more businesses would be in the market.