CLEVELAND — From Progressive Field to Huntington Bank Field to Rocket Arena, we've gotten used to the idea of our public buildings carrying corporate names. But what about city buildings?
"Honestly, I'd be intrigued to see what they would do with that," said one man, David, whom we spoke with in Playhouse Square.
He will likely soon see as the city seeks to hire a consultant to see if there would be interest in buying, in a sense, the naming rights to certain city properties.
"This would be facilities primarily with high foot traffic. Facilities could be a rec center, it could be a greenhouse, it could be one of our largest regional type parks," said Alexandra Nichols, Cleveland Director of Parks and Recreation, at a meeting Monday of council's finance committee.
It would do something that's hard to do in government, said Council President Blaine Griffin, create a revenue source where one previously didn't exist.
"People think that government runs off of fumes or it runs and it's free, it's not. You have to bring in some kind of revenue," Griffin said. "We already do some of this anyway. You have the Cavaliers or the Browns that sponsor a court or a field, or the Guardians who sponsor something."
And along those lines, it was actually 10 years ago this month that Cleveland and Cuyahoga County entered into a deal to sell the naming rights of the Cleveland Convention Center to what is now Huntington Bank, splitting the $10 million they'll get over the 20-year length of the deal. The company that put together that deal, Cleveland-based Superlative, is the one the city will hire to test the waters.
Some we spoke with were OK with the idea, provided that the sponsors were worthy. Council says they would retain final say, so you won't see a police station sponsored by a bail bond company or a fire station by a hot sauce.
"I mean, we're looking at things within reason," said Griffin. "Let me say this, we don't want to have a, you know, advertise smoke shops or some of these things, so there's certain things and parameters that we need to put in place."
Also, as for currently named city buildings or rec centers, they would remain so named.
"The way we've been looking at it, it was kind of like the State Theater or the Ohio Theater," said Nichols of how Playhouse Square has handled the issue. "Where it would be James Hubbard Glenville Recreation Center, and then we'd have the sponsorship name tagged on, but there's no plan now to change the name of any facility."
How much would be raised or exactly where the money would go is unknown, which is two of the reasons behind the study that will now take place. And if the interest or the value isn't there, they don't have to go forward; they're just finding out.
Bottom line for folks like David? "If it helps the taxpayers, that's all that matters to me."
