Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
City Extends Naming Rights Deal on Covelli Centre
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mayor Chuck Sammarone said Thursday he is pleased with a deal that nets the city an additional $55,000 over the year for naming rights for the Covelli Centre, but the city is still moving forward with an assessment of arena operations and the possible sale of the building.
The city Board of Control, which Sammarone chairs, approved the one-year extension of the current naming rights agreement between JAC Enterprises, the management company hired by the city to operate the arena, and Warren-based restaurant operator Covelli Enterprises.
Under the extension, which is retroactive to May, when the initial three-year deal expired, Covelli will pay $175,000 to maintain naming rights for the year, up from $120,000 annually.
“We feel it’s worth more money. There’s more events there,” Sammarone said. “We opened it up to a competitive process. Plus it has a history now of events and more success so people are willing to look at it in a different light than they were when we just started,” said David Bozanich, city finance director.
The city is receiving “a little more money but we’re still moving forward” on looking at leasing or selling the building, which opened in 2005, Sammarone said.
The naming rights were bid out for another three-year term but the city elected to go with a one year extension with Covelli “because of the process that we’re in the middle of,” the mayor said. He felt it wasn’t fair to approve a three-year naming rights deal because a potential buyer or lessee would want to have control of those rights.
“Hopefully somebody buys it but we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he continued. “Whoever buys it or leases it will have control of doing what they want with the naming rights.”
Under the terms of the extension, if the building is sold or leased during the one-year deal the contract would be terminated and Covelli would be repaid on a prorated basis. In the event there isn’t a sale or lease after a year, Covelli would have right of first refusal on a one-year extension.
In addition to Covelli, local businessman Bruce Zoldan expressed interest in a naming rights deal, Sammarone said.
A sale or lease of the building was recommended in an efficiency study done on behalf of the city, and an assessment of the building hopefully will be completed in a month.
The mayor said he is confident that the city could get a deal to lease the building, but was less certain about a sale. He also reiterated that he wants to look at a sale of the city-owned 20 Federal Place, another efficiency study recommendation. “Dave [Bozanich] and I have talked about that and we’re going to look at that, too,” he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.