CT. Gov. John Rowland blocked -- "at least for the
moment" -- the renaming of the Hartford Civic Center, home
of the Whalers, to the "Phoenix Center at Hartford,"
according to Jon Lender of the HARTFORD COURANT. Phoenix
Home Life Mutual Insurance Co. had signed a "letter of
agreement" to purchase naming rights for $400,000 a year,
over five years, with Ogden Entertainment, which manages the
Civic Center on behalf of the CT Development Authority
(CDA). Rowland blocked the deal and asked the CDA to
solicit competitive bids from other companies for the naming
rights, which could take weeks. Phoenix Home Life
VP/Corporate Communications Michele Farley said that Phoenix
believed that Ogden "was the only party that we were dealing
with" and had assumed Ogden was "fully authorized ... to
grant the naming rights." Farley: "I don't believe the
governor has been fully informed of all the background ...
of all the things that he should have been informed of."
Details of the deal -- such as how the $400,000 would be
split -- were unavailable (HARTFORD COURANT, 12/7).
