A proposed naming rights deal for Raleigh's
Entertainment & Sports Arena (ESA) that could be worth as
much as $80M "hit a major snag" yesterday when several
members of the Centennial Authority, which oversees the
arena, "said they couldn't support it," according to Dan
Kane of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. The Hurricanes and NC
State Univ. (NCSU), the arena's two main tenants, have
already "agreed" on how to share proceeds from a naming
rights deal, but the authority, the third partner in the
arena, "appears ready to balk if it comes up for a vote."
At a meeting yesterday, several members of the authority
"said they could not support the agreement as long as it
gives NCSU the naming rights in perpetuity." Under the
agreement reached between the Hurricanes and the university,
a 20-year, $80M deal would net $16.9M for the city and
county, $19.5M for the university and $21.2M for the
Hurricanes. The remaining revenue would also go to the
Hurricanes "to compensate the team for skybox and
advertising revenues they would have to give up to the
corporate sponsor." Authority members want NCSU Chancellor
Marye Anne Fox "to ask the university's board of trustees to
consider a change in the agreement that would guarantee the
university's claim to the naming rights only for the length
of the contract" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 4/13).
