NATION Corporate names mean money for cash-strapped cities

The sale of naming rights has extended beyond sports stadiums.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Imagine a city where travelers land at the Expedia International Airport terminal and board a shuttle for the General Motors Transit Center so they can catch the Coca-Cola light rail and head to the OfficeMax Convention Center downtown.
This mythic capital of corporate sponsorship could become reality as cash-strapped cities, school districts and transit systems nationwide are exploring how to sell naming rights, sponsorships and other forms of advertising to close budget gaps.
Once limited to the naming of sports stadiums, the corporate sponsorship game will sail into new territory this week when Nextel Communications announces a 12-year, estimated $50 million deal to plaster its name on the main station of the Las Vegas Monorail and one of the system's nine trains.
Marketing experts say they think this is the first time a transit system has sold the naming rights to a station. It likely won't be the last.
Current deals
Last summer, a Minnesota funding bill for a light-rail line authorized officials of Metro Transit in Minneapolis to sell naming rights for station stops. In Seattle, a naming-rights package that could include everything from stations, lines and cars was the topic of Sound Transit's finance committee meeting two months ago.
The name game isn't likely to end with transit systems, either.
This year, the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill allowing the sale of naming rights for school properties -- everything from classroom buildings to football fields.
What's more, Houston, Tacoma, Wash., and several other large municipalities have hired consultants to examine naming opportunities for their public buildings and facilities.
Then there's New York City, which in April named Joe Perello, a former New York Yankees executive, as its first chief marketing officer.
His first deal -- a much-ballyhooed five-year, $166 million city- and schoolwide arrangement that gives the Snapple drink company exclusive vending rights -- faces a crucial vote from a city commission next month.
Financial woes
The reason so many places are considering selling naming rights is simple: They need the money.
For fiscal 2004, state governments face budget shortfalls approaching a record total of $80 billion. That collective gap affects many municipalities, as fewer tax dollars trickle down from state coffers, according to the National League of Cities.
County governments, too, are tackling fiscal crises of their own, with 72 percent reporting lower revenue this year, the National Association of Counties reports.
By all accounts, the Las Vegas Monorail transaction breaks new ground because of its scope and duration.
Monorail contract
Neither the nonprofit, quasi-public corporation in charge of the project nor Nextel would disclose the value of the contract.
However, in sales documents circulated earlier this year, the monorail company sought annual fees of $4 million for rights to the convention center station, $2 million for each of the other six stations and $1 million for each of the trains. That would peg the Nextel contract at about $50 million (with the train contract running for a shorter period).
That figure, according to people familiar with the transaction, includes about $16 million from Nextel to pay for construction of the main station. In turn, hundreds of thousands of monorail riders will funnel past a 15,000-square-foot Nextel Pavilion, which includes a retail store, and a business center with a 30-seat theater.
The monorail -- an advanced version of the system that people ride at Disneyland -- is scheduled to start service in January. The line will run east of the Strip, from the Sahara Hotel to the north to the MGM Grand to the south. Eventual extensions are planned, first to the city's fading downtown, and then to McCarran International Airport.