Committee Still Searching For Naming Rights Sponsors
The effort to get a new permanent name for the facility that during its planning and construction was know under the working name as the Multi-Plex has yet to bear fruit.
That is the message to Council as Administration provided an update on the mission to secure a new naming rights sponsor for Mosaic Place and the Ford Curling Centre.
“The names came off the side of the building and inside the building were a removing a lot of the digital and some of the signage on the windows into the new name,” city manager Jim Puffalt told Council.
The buildings have been temporarily renamed the Moose Jaw Events Centre (former Mosaic Place) and Moose Jaw Curling Centre (former Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre).
The deal was put in abeyance until the end of August to allow unidentified individuals who came forward and joined the Naming Rights Committee.
The need to find a new naming right sponsor has been unfruitful despite a year of grace by the Mosaic Company to continue paying an annual $150,000 to allow for a new naming rights sponsor to be found. Similarly Moose Jaw Ford will no longer be paying for the naming rights for the curling portion of the facility.
The change became effective at the end of July.
Without a corporate naming sponsor the temporarily renamed Moose Jaw Events Centre and Moose Jaw Curling Centre are losing valuable sponsorship dollars
Councillor Crystal Froese asked how things were progressing in finding a new naming rights sponsor.
City manager Puffalt said another report would likely be forthcoming in the next couple of months.
“We wanted to work over the summer to see if we could make any headway with certain parties and then we can come back to Council in the fall and have a further discussion of it,” he replied, adding “we have a third party contractor that is waiting if we are not successful. So we want to get that bank in front of Council as soon as possible.”
In his report Moose Jaw city manager Jim Puffalt wrote that the search continues.
“The City continues to actively search for a new naming rights partner for the facilities and are confident that a new partner will be found in the near future. The City of Moose Jaw Naming Rights Committee is reviewing and expanding the search for naming rights partners,” the report to Council read.
Councillor Heather Eby wanted to know if the Naming Rights Committee had met or had met with anyone seeking a naming rights sponsor. She asked if it was the City or the committee arranging any meetings and who was preparing the proposal to present to potential naming rights sponsors.
“We have met. The group’s that were going to be giving us a hand have reached out to other parties to see if they can organize meetings. And right now we are using the existing documentation that we have put together. Again I think we are working together in partnership with the group,” Puffalt responded.
Councillor Doug Blanc asked to clarify that no signage was being installed on the building. Council had previously vetoed the idea due to the $50,000 cost for temporary signage.
Ryan McIvor, general manager for the Moose Jaw Events Centre, said there would be no outside signage and any signage would be small and coreplast.
“The bottom line is we are not going to be spending a whole bunch of money on signs to rip them down in a couple of months?” Councillor Blanc asked.
“No,” McIvor responded.
Naming public buildings, especially sports centres and healthcare facilities, after corporate entities is used worldwide as a means to raise funds for the building’s operation or construction.
For the newly temporary minted Moose Jaw Events Centre and Moose Jaw Curling Centre the need for new naming rights sponsors came about when the two sponsors decided to no longer continue their sponsorship after 10 years.
Mosaic decided not to renew the $150,000 annual sponsorship agreement as the corporation wants to spend the funds locally on food and water security - issues more closer to the fertilizer giants core business.
Similarly Moose Jaw Ford will no longer be paying for the naming rights to the curling portion of the building.
The Yara Centre, which was part of the Multiplex Project, will not be undergoing a name change.