SUNDRE – The municipality is looking into the possibility of securing corporate sponsorships for naming rights to create an additional revenue stream to enhance recreational facilities while reducing the need to increase either taxes or user fees.
Judy Haber, founder of Performance Sponsorship Group Inc., presented her company’s pitch to council as a delegation during the regular May 27 meeting.
The organization boasts experience in “the business of public sponsorship” working with municipalities of all sizes in Alberta, Saskatchewan as well as Ontario with expertise in packaging and leveraging of venue-naming rights and related spaces within municipal sport and recreation facilities, said Haber, who joined the meeting remotely by phone.
Some communities the company has worked with since incorporating in 1998 even had populations of fewer than 1,000 people that had “expressed interest in either building or renovating or enhancing existing recreation facilities” such as indoor arenas to outdoor ice pads and even parks as well as pickleball courts, she said.
The company has worked throughout Alberta from High River to High Level, and just about everywhere else in between from Edmonton and Calgary to Red Deer and Strathmore, she said.
“But the uniqueness of the business is really working in small communities with companies that truly do want to contribute to the well-being of their communities,” she said.
“It might not be in the range of $100,000 per year; it might be in the range of $10,000 per year,” she said, referring to multi-year agreements with companies that sign off on a sponsorship deal over the span of for example 10 or 15 years.
“It may not be a million-dollar deal, but I don’t know, $100,000 or a quarter-of-a-million dollars is still – in our eyes – a significant windfall for everyone,” she later added.
“Regardless, the contribution is a way of the company giving back, getting brand recognition and being able to demonstrate their commitment to their communities, their employees and their families who play and live and work (there).”
Haber said that in her experience, “We find that companies really are celebrating their commitment to their own communities.”
And generally speaking, residents of any place they call home would prefer not to have to leave to find recreational amenities elsewhere unless absolutely needed, she said.
“The matter of the fact is, most of us aren’t leaving our community unless we have to,” she said.
“We’re trying to find alternative solutions rather than our tax base to enhance (recreational facilities) so that we can continue to offer those products and services at a competitive rate rather than increase user fees.”
In the end, council is at the helm “driving the bus,” she said, opening the floor to questions.
Starting the conversation was Coun. Jamie Marr, who asked, “Is there an expectation for these potential sponsors on a facility’s caliber; is it worth their time and money to sponsor a facility that may need some infrastructure upgrades?”
Haber said that more often than not, the sponsorship deals involve working with facilities that require some amount of work.
“It’s very rare that it’s a new build,” she said, adding that when renovations are required, the participating companies view their investments as a way of further enhancing those upgrades.
“It’s really a public relations play, as well as ideally the money is being invested,” she said.
Coun. Owen Petersen wanted to know what all is included within the scope of the $25,000 cost involved in hiring Haber’s company.
“Does your organization deal with all of the legal and the contractual right up until everything is signed, or does that fall on our administration and our costs,” asked Petersen.
“Great question,” said Haber, adding her company uses memorandums of understanding, known as MOUs.
So when a company expresses interest in securing naming rights for a facility, they submit an MOU, she said.
“And we’ve written many so we would use ours, which would ultimately be tweaked by your town lawyer as a draft” until the deal solidified, she explained.
“We have many examples of naming rights agreements that we would use. But ultimately, it is produced on your letterhead and signed by either a member of council, the chief administrative officer, and the sponsoring company,” she said, adding there are many templates available.
Speaking in favour of further looking into potential sponsorship options, Coun. Chris Vardas said, “I think it’s time Sundre starts looking forward for this.”
Calling it “a great opportunity for us to be able to collect another source of income to help all of these facilities that we actually help with funding,” Vardas went on to say, “It’s just another way for us to be able to maybe move a little quicker on renovations, or helping them with their operations or whatever the case may be . . . we can’t always put it upon the taxpayer.”
Coun. Jaime Marr inquired as to whether such deals would apply only to municipally-owned facilities.
When it comes to assets such as the Sundre Aquaplex, which is not owned by the town, that would require a conversation with the facility’s operators to determine if they’d be interested in being a naming rights partner, said Haber.
“And if they’re amenable, then we would include that in our agreement,” she said.
Vardas also sought to confirm whether municipally-owned assets such as the Sundre Arena have multiple naming rights opportunities for the facility’s interior spaces such as dressing rooms and concessions.
“There are secondary assets within the building that could be named,” confirmed Haber.
Mayor Richard Warnock asked if the fee presented by her company plus the cost of GST for an asset assessment was a one-time charge or annually recurring, to which Haber said the former.
“I think that the fee in a small town, we’d have to get someone that would sponsor us for more than that to make it viable,” said Warnock.
“The reality is that everything that we’re going to be doing, if we come to terms, is going to be over a long-term,” replied Haber, who also said that if her company was unable to produce results for clients, “I’d have been out of business a long time ago.”
In response to another question presented by Marr as to whether the municipality should perhaps first introduce a sponsorship-naming policy before further considering the matter, Haber said such a policy would not be complicated and could be boiled down to a couple of pages to include stipulations such as not being prepared to engage in discussions with companies that might be deemed inappropriate for naming rights, such as cannabis or alcohol producers and retailers.
Vardas moved to direct administration to bring further information to the upcoming fall strategic advisory committee’s workshop for further consideration in 2025.
“This is an opportunity for us to get new funding without it being on taxpayer dollars,” he said, adding it’s also an opportunity for sponsors to promote their businesses while providing critical funding to facilities that need it.
“I’m in favour of it. But why are we waiting until 2025 to do it?” asked Coun. Connie Anderson.
Chief administrative officer Linda Nelson said the expense had not been factored into this year’s budget.
Speaking in favour of the motion as presented, Marr suggested compiling a comprehensive inventory of assets.
“I’d be really interested to have a list of all the potential facilities and spaces and areas, outdoor spaces, parks, benches – how far are we going to take this?” she said. “Is it just brick and mortar buildings, or are we going to get a little bit creative?”
Favouring the motion, Coun. Paul Isaac said that per his understanding, Haber’s company will work alongside the municipality to determine facilities with the potential appeal for sponsorship deals.
“I don’t really think our administration needs to do a lot of work ahead of time . . . if anything, we could go even ahead with this,” he said. “I don’t know if we need to wait to have the same discussion in the fall.”
Petersen preferred factoring the proposal into the next budget cycle.
“Even though it’s only $25,000, I would like to have it worked into the next budget and not just keep springing it on the administration at this time,” he said.
Warnock also spoke in favour of the motion and said the municipality should observe due diligence by having administration look closer at the fine print. The mayor also expressed doubt that a six-month delay would in any significant way have much impact.
“Better to do it right than jump in,” he said, going onto call a vote on the motion that carried unanimously.
