Edmonton city councillors debated the pros and cons of pursuing more sponsorship deals for city facilities on Wednesday, with some saying naming rights sales could generate much-needed revenue for the city — approximately $21 million over 10 years — and others saying facilities built with taxpayer money shouldn’t have corporate names.
‘We need every partnership, every dollar, every opportunity,’ Coun. Tim Cartmell says
Madeleine Cummings · CBC News
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What's in a name and what is it worth? Edmonton city councillors wrestled with those questions on Wednesday.
Edmonton city councillors debated the pros and cons of pursuing more sponsorship deals for city facilities on Wednesday, with some saying naming rights sales could generate much-needed revenue for the city — about $21 million over 10 years — and others saying facilities built with taxpayer money shouldn't have corporate names.
Administration is proposing that councillors pre-approve the naming concept sale for about two dozen recreation centres, rinks, outdoor pools and storage facilities, allowing officials to initiate negotiations without coming to council to obtain permission first.
Councillors Tim Cartmell, Sarah Hamilton, Andrew Knack, Aaron Paquette, Karen Principe, Jennifer Rice, Keren Tang and Jo-Anne Wright voted in favour of streamlining the process while Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and councillors Michael Janz, Erin Rutherford, Ashley Salvador and Anne Stevenson opposed it.
"We are in significantly deep financial straits," Cartmell said during the meeting.
"We need every partnership, every dollar, every opportunity we can."
Any potential name sale deals would still have to receive final approval from city council.
Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford told CBC News in an interview that even though council has the final say over sponsorship deals, it can be hard for councillors to kibosh them after staff have sunk resources into the negotiations and revenue has been factored into the city budget.
"It does feel very much like that end checkpoint is just a rubber stamp approval," she said.
Excluding large rec centres
Though council voted to give city officials more freedom to explore sponsorship deals, they later decided to reconsider that decision and contemplate excluding some large recreation centres from the list of facilities that could be renamed.
Sohi said hundreds of millions of public dollars have been invested in the Clareview, Commonwealth, Kinsmen, Meadows and Coronation rec centres so they should retain their current names.
City officials would still be free to negotiate deals for smaller facilities and amenities within buildings, he said during the meeting.
City council postponed discussion on the issue Wednesday afternoon and it will be on the agenda for Friday's council meeting.
Booster Juice decision
The Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre was renamed last year after Booster Juice bought the temporary naming rights for the facility.
The rec centre remains municipally run but the company paid for new signs and pays the city a sponsorship fee, which has not been publicly released.
City officials told councillors during Wednesday's meeting and a community and public services meeting last week that the change has gone over well, without confusing residents or compromising the city's brand.
"We've been rather impressed with the sophistication of our users, that they're very aware of the brand and whose money — theirs — has paid for these facilities," said Jennifer Flaman, the deputy city manager of community services, at last week's committee meeting.
Councillors heard on Wednesday that of the thousands of inquiries the city has received from the public about the facility since the name change announcement, only three related to that topic.
Public appetite for name sales
A city survey in July 2020 found 80 per cent of more than 6,000 respondents were either comfortable or neutral with selling naming rights to offset pandemic-related costs.
Another survey, in November of last year, found 65 per cent of more than 4,000 respondents were either comfortable or neutral with selling naming rights to offset operating costs.
Coun. Jo-Anne Wright said feedback she received from residents in Ward Sspomitapi while out doorknocking last week reflected the city survey results.
Mayor Sohi, however, said he heard criticism from residents who felt the Booster Juice renaming decision diminished community pride — and that the revenue generated by name sales isn't enough to solve the city's fiscal challenges.
"These kinds of sponsorship agreements are not going to make a huge difference in closing that gap," he said.
With files from Mrinali Anchan
