Naming process upsets dealer

Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealerships offered more cash for naming rights than GM.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A car dealership owner who organized a local group to give $1 million over five years for the naming rights for the former Youngstown Convocation Center said he was used as a pawn by city officials.
Bob Eddy, owner of Bob & amp; Chuck Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Austintown, said the group -- consisting of about a dozen local Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships -- had a deal with the city in place on the naming rights.
Corporate officials at DaimlerChrysler weren't interested in providing money for the center, Eddy said. But the officials agreed to allow the local dealers to work out a deal and name the facility for some of the company's vehicle divisions, he said.
Decision postponed
Center officials had tentatively scheduled a press conference in late September to announce the naming rights but canceled it.
Eddy said that press conference was to disclose a deal with the local dealers in his group.
The deal was so close that a drawing of what would have been the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Center logo for the center was done, and the group was asked to pick the furniture for its luxury suite, Eddy said.
Instead, the announcement was postponed as General Motors re-entered negotiations for naming rights for the arena, known as the Chevrolet Centre as of Thursday.
This past summer, city and center officials were in talks with the DaimlerChrysler local dealers and KeyBank with GM interested but not as much as the other companies.
'We stepped up'
Eddy said he was asked by arena and city officials to consider purchasing the naming rights earlier this year.
"When no one else was interested, we stepped up and offered to help the center," he said. "I'm not mad at GM. But GM turned it down, and we felt strongly about this, so we stepped up. It turns out I was a pawn."
Eddy said his group initially offered $750,000 in cash paid equally divided over five years when no one else was interested in the naming rights.
In early October, Eddy's group upped its offer to $1 million in cash over five years, the amount center officials had targeted to be paid by the sponsor for naming rights.
GM agreement
Herb Washington, owner of the Youngstown SteelHounds, a minor-league hockey team that plays its home games at the center, said he and Jeff Kossow, the arena's executive director, urged local GM officials about that time to reconsider and seek the naming rights.
John Donahoe, the Lordstown GM complex plant manager, is a big hockey fan and played in a handful of games for the now-defunct California Seals team of the National Hockey League. He was hired for the GM job in August.
GM builds Chevrolet Cobalts at the Lordstown complex.
On Thursday, it was announced that GM will pay $175,000 in cash annually and provide $25,000 worth of vehicle use -- the lease of four GM vehicles a year -- a year for three years. The deal has 17 years of annual options.
"I embrace this Valley and Lordstown and GM, but I'm disappointed by how this turned out," Eddy said. "Our main focus was to help the community, and they were playing me."
Besides the $200,000 in cash and car leases, GM will promote the facility in advertisements, and the company's workers will buy tickets to events, at a discounted rate for some events. Mayor George M. McKelvey said that would add more than $300,000 annually to the Chevrolet Centre.
City Finance Director David Bozanich maintained the city didn't use the Eddy group to get a better deal from GM.
"We have a fiduciary responsibility to do what's in the best interest of the city," he said. "We believe the GM proposal is the right thing for the city."
The GM deal allows the city to directly sell tickets to the company's employees, families and retirees, and there is potential for significant business crossover for the center with this arrangement, Bozanich added.
skolnick@vindy.com