Telecom giant seals naming rights to downtown stadium for undisclosed fee
Andy Ivens
Province
It’s all change at GM Place as the letters spelling out the arena’s former name are removed Tuesday.
Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini (right) shakes hands with Rogers president Nadir Mohammed after the renaming of GM Place to Rogers Arena was announced Tuesday. MARK VAN MANEN PHOTOS –PNG
The Vancouver Canucks are getting on Rogers Communications’ wavelength.
The NHL team announced Tuesday that Rogers Arena will be the new name of the Canucks’ downtown stadium that has been known as General Motors Place since it opened in 1995.
Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini and Rogers president and CEO Nadir Mohamed said the deal is for 10 years, but neither man would disclose the price Rogers paid for the sponsorship. Other NHL rinks receive in the neighbourhood of $5 million a year for naming rights.
Asked whether he thought Rogers got a bargain in the naming rights, Aquilini cracked: “I think they did,” which garnered a few laughs.
“We will partner with the Canucks to explore new and revolutionary ways to use wireless technology to engage Vancouver fans any time, any place and especially at Rogers Arena,” beamed a proud Mohamed, who grew up in Burnaby and went to high school in New Westminster.
“We will also join forces on local Canucks charitable initiatives.”
Cable channel Rogers Sportsnet has broadcast the majority of Canucks games over the last nine years.
Rogers owns the Toronto Blue Jays and their home field, the Rogers Centre, and also sponsors the annual Rogers Cup of tennis, which is held in Toronto and Montreal.
Mohamed said Rogers will “leverage our technologies . . . to take the game to the fans wherever they may be.”
“Obviously, it’s going to be a tremendous experience at the Rogers Arena, but we’re hoping there is also a tremendous experience in terms of using technology in new ways so people can have access to the team,” he added.
How the company plans to do that will be revealed later this summer, said Victor de Bonis, Canucks chief operating officer.
“We don’t want to overwhelm you today,” he added. “But before the season starts, we’re going to go through and give you some samples of what we’re planning on doing.”
The Canucks already have one of the most successful sports-related mobile applications. The Canucks’ iPhone app, launched in February, “was the most downloaded sports app in Canada at certain points following the launch,” the team’s media relations director, T.C. Carling, told The Province.
The team launched its BlackBerry app in March. General Motors’ original deal for the arena’s naming rights still had five years to run.
GM will continue to be the exclusive automotive sponsor inside the arena, concentrating on the Chevrolet brand.
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