I was a little surprised to see this Spec article about the Hamilton headquartered credit Union First Ontario wanting to buy the naming rights for Copps Coliseum. No real talk in the article of how much those naming rights would be worth. For comparison, the Tim Horton's deal for the replacement for Ivor Wynne has been reported as between $1 million and $1.5 million per year.
In terms of teams there's the AHL Bulldogs playing there, plus various concerts (like the announced Kanye West concert) and monster truck motocross type events. The Bulldogs don't get mentioned as much on national television broadcasts as the Ticats (no Grey Cup possibility either) so the per year estimate on what it is worth have to be considerably less. There is more car traffic (and probably of a more valuable demographic) by the arena than the old Ivor Wynne, but certainly not as much as past BMO field in Toronto with the Gardner going by. If I had to take a stab in the dark, maybe $200,000 per year (as a hockey arena comparison, the Ottawa Senators arena has a $21 million 15 year deal with Scotiabank). There's probably value for First Ontario as they have operation beyond Hamilton, but not a lot farther so any advertising value beyond regional isn't of much use anyway.
One thing the article somewhat skimmed over is what arena operator Global Spectrum is getting out of this. I assume some percentage as part of the operating agreement with the city of Hamilton. I'm sure that information is already out there somewhere.
With regards to the Copps name, it has been almost 40 years since Victor Copps was mayor and the name has been on the arena for many years. What the family thinks to me doesn't matter. I believe Sheila Copps doesn't even live in the city anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment