OHL Arena Naming Rights

The deeper we get into the 21^st century names that have grown synonymous with the OHL like the Peterborough Memorial Centre, Sudbury Arena, Bayshore arena and Kitchener Memorial Auditorium have grown fewer and fewer. With the arena boom that was kicked off by the Barrie Colts cities looking for new revenue streams started attaching corporate sponsors to their arena names.

Arena's in most OHL cities tend to be a focal point for the community and in most cases were memorials for those who served Canada in war. While it is hard for the sentimentalist in us to swallow some of these corporate names the tax payers in most of us can see the logic behind them.

Out of the 20 teams in the OHL 17 are located in Ontario. Of those 17 teams 12 play in arenas with corporate names attached to them. The names of the Windsor Arena, London Ice House, Soo Memorial Gardens and Copps Coliseum are long gone. In their place is the WFCU Centre, Budweiser Gardens, Essar Center and First Ontario Centre.

Only the 4 arenas from the opening Paragraph ( Peterborough, Sudbury, Owen Sound and Kitchener) and the North Bay Memorial Gardens lack the commercialization that has touched their OHL cousins. With some of those teams in the market for new arenas in the near future and 4 current teams about to have their current naming rights expire by 2018 I thought this was the perfect time to look into the various naming rights deals signed by arena's across the OHL.

With deals signed in different years I took out my trusty Texas Instruments BAII Plus calculator and found the present and future values of these rights deals. A deal today signed for $170,000 a year sure sounds a lot nicer then a deal signed 10 years ago for $160,000 a year but it is easy to forget that $170,000 today is worth a lot less then $170,000 10 years ago and the opposite is true for $160,000 10 years ago compared to $160,000 today.

Where I could I found information on who received the money and if any went to the various teams or if the naming rights money only went to the city or another organization. Finally some naming rights deals have added benefits to it. For example the WFCU Centre and the Meridian Centre only have ATM machines in their building from those financial institutions. While the Budweiser Gardens and Sleemans Centre also come with the pour rights for those beers (Pour rights can bring in as much as $50,000 a year just for the right to serve a particular brand of beer at an arena).

average naming rights dollars brought in per year from various arena's around the OHL

Naming Rights adjusted to 2016 dollars

Ranking OHL Arena Rights in 2016 Dollars

London Knights – Budweiser Gardens

$610,073 AAV in 2016 dollars

10 years $6.4 million total

Signed in 2012

Far and away the largest naming rights deal in the OHL. The deal likely includes the pour rights for Budweiser products but even when you take that into account (it will be some of the highest in the league due to the high attendence and usage of the arena) the money generated from the Arena name is large. Very few teams get a piece of the naming rights money but I would be interested to see if the Knights get any as they are a big reason why the City of London is able to get so much for this.

Hamilton Bulldogs – First Ontario Centre

327,091 AAV in 2016 dollars

10 years $3.5 millon total

Signed in 2014

This is an interesting rights deal as the city of Hamilton gets none of the money from it. Well not directly anyways. Global Spectrum the bane of Bulldogs fans exictince and the company in charge of running what will always be Copps Colisium is the main benefactor.

Oshawa Generals – Communities Tributes Centre

224,564 AAV in 2016 dollars (according to sources)

10 years $2.5 million total (according to sources)

Signed in 2016

The newest deal signed in the OHL and also the only unconfirmed number. For some reason Oshawa is very tight lipped about its naming rights deals. Even the numbers for when GM was the sponsor were hard to get ahold of. The rumoured total for the Communities Tributes Centre (the only home builder to acquire naming rights) is 2.5 million over 10 years. In 2016 dollars this comes out to approx 2.24 million over 10 years. The deal for GM was 1.5 million over 10 years which in 2016 dollars was worth approx 1.81 million. If the rumoured numbers are true then the city of Oshawa did a very good job with an increase of 23.75% in 2016 dollars. With 4 teams entering new deals in the next 4 years it will be interesting to see if others can reach these numbers.

It should be noted that the previous deal for GM was not a straight cash deal. Only 77K a year was cash while the approximate 87K remaining was "indirect financial benefits" which could be why the city kept it under wraps.

Windsor Spitfires – WFCU Centre

$189,373 AAV in 2016 dollars

10 years $1.75 million total (payments made quarterly)

Signed in 2008

The 2^nd of 3 community credit unions on this list. The payment for which is made quarterly as opposed to yearly which is the case for most arena naming rights based on my research. With the increase in rights fees to Oshawa recently it puts the city of Windsor in a nice position. Personally I can't see anyone else stepping up and surpassing WFCU as they are rather entrentched in the community.

Kingston Frontnacs – K-Rock Cenre

$186,145 AAV in 2016 dollars

10 years $1.7 million total

Signed in 2007

Expires after this season so we could be looking at a new arena name in Kingston if K-Rock doesnt renew. Cant see that happening though due to their partnership with the Fronts as well as the potential synergy that goes along with a radio station and an entertainment venue. I found 2 sets of numbers when it came to the naming rights. The Durham news reported a deal worth 3.3 million a year, a number which is quite outragous. In the feasability study for the Niagara arena done by accounting firm Deloitte the number was pegged at 1.7 million a year over 10 years which is more in line with the arena deals signed at the time.

Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds – Essar Centre

$179,263 AAV in 2016 dollars

10 Years $ 1.5 million total (Total paid upfront in 1^st year)

Signed in 2008

Another unique deal as this was paid in full in the first year. All 1.5 million dollars. Because of this the value of this deal increases greatly and was a very shrewd business move by the city of Sault Ste. Marie. In fact it blew the previous agreement with Steelback Breweries out of the water, a deal which was voided after the second payment was missed. On top of that the city of Sault Ste Marie was able to shop the pour rights for beer at the arena which added even more money to the cities cauffers. Now this deal expires after next season and you will likely be seeing a new name. Essar has been a little slow in paying their 14 million dollar tax bill to the city.

Niagara Icedogs – Meridian Centre

$178,244 AAV in 2016 dollars

15 years $3 million total

Signed in 2014

In terms of actual dollars prior to discounting the Icedogs contract is actually the 2^nd highest in the OHL. After the original 15 years is up there is an option to increase the deal by 10 years with a 2% compounding escaleter per year. This would bring the dollar total to just north of 5.2 million over 25 years. For the puropse of this I only used the 15 year 3 million dollar contract.

While the $200,000 a year is nice the length of the contract causes the final years to be worth not as much in 2016 dollars which is why its AAV in said dollars is lower then most other deals. The big thing with the length though is that some teams will be able to sign 2 more rights deals potentially with increases before St Catherines can look to rework their contract. While Oshawas total is rumoured it is considerably higher then what Meridian pays.

At the end of the day the city of St Catherines did very well with the dollar total that they got. The length could come back to haunt them but they have cost certainty with this deal for 15 maybe even 25 years. From a political stand point they can spout a munch of mumbo jumbo about it being worth north of 5 million dollars even though from a present value perspective that is far far far from the case.

Guelph Storm – Sleemans Centre

$90,040 AAV in 2016 dollars

13 years $1.1 million total

Signed in 2007

Sleemans Breweries took over exclusive naming rights of what was then the Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre. Quite a few deals were signed form 2007 to 2008 and the Sleemans Centre turned out to be for the lowest total and yearly amount as well as the longest. While Kingston, Windsor and Sault Ste. Marie all had 10 year terms the Sleemans Centre's deal is for 13. The AAV is one of only 2 under 100k a year.

Sarnia Sting - Progressive Auto Sales Arena

$39,021 AAV in 2016 dollars

10 years $434,415 total

Signed in 2016

I honestly dont know what to say about this deal that was signed in Sarnia. This is an incredibly low total that the city of Sarnia snagged. On top of that the revenue is split between the city and the OHL team with approx 23K going to the city and 19K going to the team. Most deals come with perks such as suites and tickets but as mentioned in the Sarnia Observer these perks for Progressive Auto Sales which include a suite and 12 season tickets has an annual value of about 30K which is more than 66% of what they pay for the naming rights.

Barrie and Mississauga

I couldn't find any recent information on Barrie and Mississauga. All I was able to find on the Colts home is that the contract with Molson is up in 2018 so they could be in the market for a new arena name along with Sault Ste. Marie and Windsor.

As for Mississauga I was only able to find that they had a 10 year agreement worth $190.000 expire in 2008. Obviously Hershey's reupped but that was a very good deal for the time. While the Hershey centre may not be a big draw for OHL hockey it has some advantages that allow for high naming rights fee. For starters it is along a busy stretch of highway. While the location for fans attending games leaves a lot to be desired it is perfect for maximizing naming rights. Secondly it is a very well used facility. The Steelheads may be the anchor tenant but the city of Mississauga has done a good job of maximizing its use.

What will we see in the future?

Kingston is up for a new contract after this season. Barrie, Windsor and Sault Ste. Marie are up for a new contract after 2017-18. Sudbury seems to be moving ahead with a new arena and Peterborough is having some financial difficulty which may spur the city into looking at a new arena that is more cost efficient with new revenue streams. Niagara and Oshawa seem to have set the bar with deals that bring in north of 200K a year and will be a starting point for any city as they look to maximize revenue oppertunities.