The city is closing in on a new name for the former Barrie Molson Centre with a new suitor.
City staff is recommending council approve a 10-year naming rights agreement with CampMart at a cost of $1.65 million for the south-end arena, which is home to the Ontario Hockey League's Barrie Colts.
The new name would be the CampMart Centre.
CampMart is one of Canada’s largest RV dealership groups, with locations in Barrie, Cambridge, London, Peterborough, Ingersoll and Hamilton, with another slated to open in Ottawa.
"The company is a community-focused and proudly Canadian," Kim Breedon, the city's corporate sponsorship co-ordinator, says in a staff report on the naming rights.
The matter is on Monday night's general committee agenda and still requires final approval from city council.
The arena, which is located on Mapleview Drive near Highway 400, opened Dec. 31, 1995. It had been known as the Barrie Molson Centre since Day 1.
The brewer, which had a significant presence in the city at the time, held the naming rights after donating the nine-acre property to the city in 1994. That deal expired in 2018.
City staff met with MolsonCoors executives Sept. 28, 2017, to discuss their interest in continuing with the building's naming rights. MolsonCoors declined the opportunity.
This past summer, the city and the Barrie Colts received a cease-and-desist letter from MolsonCoors regarding the arena name, so it became officially known only as the 'BMC' in the interim and the exterior sign was changed to reflect that request.
The city has been looking for someone to take over the name and eight interested companies were short-listed.
After assessing the "best offer" from the companies on the short list, staff brought forward a recommendation for a 25-year naming agreement from Paul Sadlon Motors to call the arena the Sadlon Centre.
The auto dealership, which has been serving the Barrie area since 1971, was willing to pay $2 million in instalments of $100,000 over the course of 20 years, with no payments in the final five years of the deal.
That proposal was turned down by councillors.
In June 2018, general committee directed city staff to find another sponsorship agreement which would generate a minimum of $200,000 per year for the naming rights.
However, staff determined that figure was unlikely.
"Staff do not believe that achieving $200,000 per year to the city is feasible, given the age of the facility at 555 Bayview Dr., (and) Barrie’s smaller population," Breedon says.
"In addition, unlike some of the other OHL arenas, the BMC is located within relative proximity to other facilities where non-OHL programming can be held, such as Casino Rama and facilities in York Region, which results in fewer rental days at the BMC."
Based on the city's analysis, the BMC naming rights should be worth between $125,000 and $150,000 per year, according to the staff report, which took into account what other OHL cities with similarly sized arenas receive for their facility naming rights. The average was found to be around $140,000 annually.
"There are noteworthy limitations to negotiating a new contract for the renaming of the BMC," Breedon says. "The City of Barrie has limited control and has to work within existing third-party tenant contracts. The city does not control food and beverage rights, including all pouring rights."
The city also doesn't control product sales and promotions within the building, or interior advertising.
"Consequently, the city cannot provide exclusivity to any new sponsor coming on board," Breedon says. "This reduces the value that can be achieved in a naming rights agreement when compared to some OHL facilities."
City staff believe the CampMart proposal is in line with other OHL cities.
"This offer exceeds the valuation completed by an outside consultant, and also exceeds the average annual sponsorship value of OHL facilities with seating capacity under 5,500," Breedon says.
According to the proposed agreement, CampMart would also get to use the arena and its parking lots eight days a year for RV and outdoor shows, including one in August and the other in the spring.
If council turns down the offer from CampMart, city staff would continue to look for a new sponsor.
