Council Told An Events Centre With No Name Will Not Bring In A Fistful Of Dollars

The Man With No Name personae may have made Clint Eastwood more than a fistful of dollars but when it comes to an events centre a Stadium With No Name is not going to bring in naming rights cash Council was told on Monday evening.

At their regular meeting Council was asked to approve spending more money on Mosaic Place this time it is about the pending end of the naming rights contract with the Mosaic Company.

Money to the tune of $29,000 to hire a firm to find a naming rights purchaser, $50,000 for temporary branding (signage) of the facility to The Moose Jaw Events Centre and 20 percent commission of the final name rights agreement.

“There is a tremendous value for whomever has their name on it,” city manager Jim Puffalt told Council, adding “we had lots of interest from local businesses but just not able to land the deal.”

The Mosaic Company was paying $150,000 annually for the name rights sponsorship.

Puffalt had been a member of a committee trying to secure a business to put their name on Mosaic Place once the Mosaic Company’s name comes off the facility at the end of August.

Other members of the committee had included former Mayor Fraser Tolmie (replaced by Mayor Clive Tolley), Councillor Jamie Logan, Derek Blais parks and recreation manager, Ryan MacIvor Spectra Management and Craig Hemmingway City of Moose Jaw communications director.

The initial ten year contract was suppose to expire on August 31, 2021 but Mosaic had grant a one year non-renewable extension to assist the City find a new naming rights sponsor.

Puffalt said the committee had found a lot of interest from the local business community but could not secure a final deal.

“We (the committee) came to the conclusion we are not going to be able to do this ourselves…there is some optimism a professional fundraising group is going to be able to give us a hand.”

Puffalt said the committee had sent out a Request For Proposal and had settled on Performance Sponsorship Group (PSG) because they charged the lowest upfront fees, the lowest percentage of the final agreement, were Western Canada based and had proven results with good client references.

Time is of the essence as not having a naming rights sponsor will cut into Mosaic Place’s operating budget’s bottom line.

The costs for not getting a name rights sponsor is $ 14,593 a month.

If no naming right sponsor is found it (pro-rated cost) will cost the City on September 1st $14,593 on October 1, 2022 $29,186, on November 1, 2022 $43,779 and on December 1, 2022 $58,375.

The potential costs include the naming rights for the main venue ($50,000) as well as ($8,375) for the curling centre.

Mosaic will be responsible for the cost of removing all of the signage stating their name on the venue.

“They are the ones who say they can move fairly quickly particularly when it comes to (getting naming rights),” Puffalt said.

Mayor Clive Tolley said he got involved in the Naming Rights Committee inheriting the position from former Mayor Fraser Tolmie.

“So far we haven’t been successful. It’s a big ask to get someone to get naming rights on such a facility,” Mayor Tolley said.

The Mayor said he felt the City had no choice other than hire professionals to help secure a new naming rights sponsor.

“We have exhausted our local resources in getting a naming rights sponsor.”

Coluncillor Heather Eby, who sat on Mosaic’s initial operating board, said she was thankful for the Mosaic Company for stepping forward and putting their name on the facility from its opening.

She was however none to giving when it came to the Committee informing Council that they were unsuccessful with only over two months to go to find a new naming rights sponsor.

“I am not disappointed in the committee. But I am disappointed halfway through we weren’t made aware of this,” Councillor Eby said.

“I feel that we should have looked at this in January as this was a surprise that this was happening,” she said.

The surprise came more fully to Councillor Dawn Luhning who said this was the first time she had heard about the naming rights committee especially that there was a councillor on it as well.

“This is the first time I have heard of this committee…also the first time I heard about a councillor was on the committee,” Councillor Luhning said.

“Not once has this come up (that) we have a committee working behind the scenes to take on the naming rights,” she said.

If she had known Councillor Luhning said she could have helped out.

“I some of these companies and could have helped out in this.”

“I did not recall there was a group working behind the scenes working on this.”

Councillor Luhning went on to state that the “secret” name rights committee was just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is happening behind the scenes at City Hall.

“We seem to be working in a silo and we are not told about these projects,” she said, adding “this is a lesson that needs to be learnt city councillors need to know when this is happening.”

When asked by Council if once contracted would PSG be contacting local firms the naming rights committee had already contacted Puffalt said that the City would be presented a list of potential firms to purchase the naming rights and would advise PSG not to contact firms already contacted.

He said the intent was not to annoy firms who had already said no.

It was something Councillor Jamie Logan did not fully agree with because PSG might have better contacts able to get the firm to agree to purchase the naming rights.

“We may know someone locally and they might know someone nationally (who could get the naming rights deal done),” Councillor Logan said.

It is something the city manager earlier alluded to.

“They have been very successful in Western Canada…and we are confident moving to a professional fundraiser is a major step over that hurdle,” Puffalt said.

In addition to the $29,000 initial sign up fee PSG would receive 20 percent of the contacts value paid out as the money is received. The 20 percent would be paid out on top of the amount of the $150,000 naming rights.

It was something Councillor Kim Robinson opposed saying if the local committee could not find a naming rights purchaser for $1.5 million (over 10 years) how could they find a naming rights sponsor for $1.8 million?

He pointed out the end cost of the contract would be $329,000 over ten years.

50 Grand For A No Name Events Centre

As part of Administration’s proposal was spending $50,000 on an interim name rebranding. The name being considered was the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

Spending $50,000 was not something supported by Council.

Councillor Logan said it was something he was not ready to support.

“I am not in favour of spending 50 grand for two months,” he said.

The same sentiment was shared by Councillor Robinson.

“I am reluctant to support this at all…we could sponsor it ourselves for two years,” he said, adding “why do we continue to throw money around on a pig on a poke.”

Councillor Luhning was also very critical of the $50,000 temporary rebranding.

“I will absolutely not vote for $50,000 to do a temporary rebranding it’s a complete waste of money.”

Councillor Eby said temporary re-branding the building would likely not be necessary because everyone would still know the facility as Mosaic Place for some time to come.

It needs to be noted that many in the community still refer to the facility as the Multiplex - its initial working name.

Puffalt said that the committee had been formed during the previous Council’s tenure with high hopes of securing a naming rights deal long ago.

“The committee had high hopes we had a deal to announce sooner rather than later.”

Councillor Luhning Criticizes

Councillor Luhning felt strongly Council should have been made aware of the naming rights committee’s existence - it is something Puffalt disputed as Council had been made aware of it in-camera.

“I don’t believe a commitee was formed…I think we (Council) should have known,” she said.

The criticisms turned to the potential reasons naming rights had not been sold was because of the facility’s history.

“There is a history lesson when it comes to Mosaic Place…don’t get me started about the history of that building,” Councillor Luhning said.

It should be noted Mosaic Place - formerly known as the Multi-Plex - has had a checkered past from when the facility was first proposed.

It needs to be noted there has been two referendums, a court case when deciding to build the facility, a threat from the Western Hockey League to move the Moose Jaw Warriors franchise if a new facility was not built, a financial scandal which cost the City millions, an alleged sexual harassment scandal, an alleged secret meeting and conspiracy in relation to forcing a Councillor to resign because of the alleged sexual harassment scandal, and continual requests for unbudgeted money to support the facility.

Council Decides

In the end Council decided to slim down Administration’s recommendation to not include a mention of the potential losses of not securing a naming rights sponsor and not to pay $50,000 to temporarily rebrand Mosaic Place if necessary.

In a 5 -2 vote with Councillors Robinson and Luhning opposed Council approved adding $29,000 to Mosaic Place’s 2022 budget in order to hire PSG to secure a naming rights sponsor.