The Trail Blazers have announced an effort to "re-energize a search" for a Rose Garden naming-rights sponsor, which was first launched in '07, according to Allan Brettman of the Portland OREGONIAN. The team "will work with Premier Partnerships" to find a sponsor. Blazers President & CEO Chris McGowan "is familiar with Premier through his previous job" as AEG COO (OREGONLIVE.com, 1/14). In Portland, Andy Giegerich notes Premier Partnerships has previously "landed naming rights" for O.co Coliseum, PPL Park, San Diego State Univ.'s Viejas Arena and the former Pizza Hut Park outside Dallas (BIZJOURNALS.com, 1/14). McGowan said that a new name "might be in place on the arena by the start" of next season. Univ. of Oregon Warsaw Sports Marketing Center Dir Paul Swangard said that naming-rights sponsorships "aren't generally as attractive to companies as in the past." He added that a naming-rights deal in a smaller market "does not get the same level of national exposure as in the nation's biggest cities." Swangard: "You've got a building that has a heritage to its name. As a company, you don't want to be coming in and immediately ticking off the community because they've slapped a commercial moniker on it." The OREGONIAN's Brettman in a separate piece noted Trail Blazers and Premier officials declined to "speculate how much an annual building sponsorship was worth." The Rose Garden is "one of five arenas in the NBA that do not have corporate sponsors" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/15).
