With progress moving along nicely with the Bemidji Regional Event Center its time for some speculation as to who or what would be interested in the naming rights for the arena. While the moniker BREC (Bemidji Regional Event Center) certainly has a nice ring to it…the thought that up to $100,000 per year could be garnered into our city coffers by selling the rights certainly is alluring.
The baseline for this figure of $100,000 is the use of the Midwest Wireless Center in Mankato, the home of the University of Minnesota-Mankato Mavericks of the WCHA. In 1999 Midwest Wireless Communications entered into an agreement with the city for $2.2 million ($110,000 per year for 20 years) for naming rights to the arena in downtown Mankato. Included in this package was signage throughout the building, on the ice, display area in concourse, scoreboard and outside signing, and a 20 person suite. This agreement was brokered by the management company of the facility at that time…not the city. The $100,000 figure has been used at times as a possibility for the BREC.
So I have a list of some arena names in the United States…most of these I took for their uniqueness. I threw in a comment or two after each on my take on the name.
Amway Arena: Orlando Florida (maybe Creative Memories from St. Cloud is interested in Bemidji….Creative Memories Arena??)
Blue Cross Arena: Rochester NY (maybe an agent here…probably not the company)
Budweiser Event Center: Loveland, Colorado (not good for a collegiate facility)
Dunkin Donuts Center: Providence RI (also known as “the DUNK”…great name!)
Fedex Forum: Memphis, TN (maybe Speedee Delivery Arena??)
Honda Center: Anaheim, CA (if it’s a carmaker…lets pick a foreign auto)
Izod Center: East Rutherford, NJ (I didn’t even know Izod clothing was still made?)
Jobing.com Arena: Glendale, AZ. (using .com in the name is complicated)
Lincoln Ice Box: Lincoln, NE. (a great name / how about the Bemidji Freezer?)
MTS Centre: Winnipeg, Canada (stands for Manitoba Telecom Services but who would know?)
Nutter Center: Dayton, OH (Oh I want a Nutter other Peanut Butter cup….lalalala)
NYTEX Center: Richland Hills, TX (owned by a company with operations in both New York and Texas hence NYTEX…how about MND Center for Minn. and North Dakota?)
Pensgrowth Saddledome: Calgary, Canada (I like the Saddledome moniker)
Save on Foods Memorial Centre: Victoria BC (How about Lukens’s Center?)
Tim’s Toyota Center: Prescott, AZ (my 2nd favorite…named after a local car dealer!)
So after much thought…here’s my list of potential candidates for the naming of the Bemidji arena.
Paul Bunyan Broadcasting Arena: (Well known radio station group with holdings in Brainerd and Alexandria. Could be known as THE BUN…as one of their stations is named)
Pinnacle Arena (After Pinnacle Publishing in Bemidji. Has a stately sound to the name)
Paul Bunyan Telephone (I would call it the PBT Centre…like Winnipeg)
Bernick’s Arena (Area Miller Beer distributor headquartered in St. Cloud with holdings throughout the Northern part of MN. They already have a facility in Sartell, MN named Bernicks Pepsi)
MidContinent Communications Arena (new to Bemidji taking over Charter cable operations)
Kraus-Anderson Event Center (huge national firm with regional office in Bemidji…they’re building it…why not own it?)
The FORUM Centre (Forum Communications owns the local Bemidji newspaper)
Viking Coke Exposition Center (for local distributor)
The NEI Pepsi Center (local family owned bottler…just like Denver!
And of course there are a ton of banks and financial institutions:
First National Bank of Bemidji Center…or just the First Center
Riverwood Arena
Security Bank Centre
Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines IA has this already)
Bank Forward Center
Deerwood Bank Arena
Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comment section. I am sure there are others I haven’t even thought of. Maybe some individual wants it named after their family? Just remember…it only takes $100,000 per year to have an arena named after you. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
