Shaw Communications gets naming rights to Convention Centre in 10-year deal
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The Ottawa Convention Centre has a newer, shorter name.
The award-winning convention centre was renamed the Shaw Centre on Thursday under a 10-year naming rights deal with Shaw Communications of Calgary.
The centre said the deal will allow it boost its profile through Shaw’s strengths in Internet and other communications streams, according to a release.
Shaw, meanwhile, will gain “the opportunity to showcase its leading media brands, products, and services to guests from Canada and abroad.”
The sparkling convention centre on Colonel By Drive opened in April 2011 after a $170-million reconstruction, replacing the old Ottawa Congress Centre. The centre is owned by the provincial government.
The centre issued an expression of interest in finding a naming rights partner last summer, said Sylvie Carbonneau, the centre’s director of marketing and communications. Shortly thereafter, Shaw came forward with a plan and a proposal and the deal was signed last week.
Carbonneau said there were other contenders but it soon came clear that Shaw were the most serious partners at the table..
Carbonneau said terms of the deal won’t be disclosed “for competitive reasons” although the convention centre will be outfitted with Shaw Go WiFi — the company’s carrier-grade Wi-Fi network. There will be free access throughout the building to all guests in “recognized gathering areas.”
Shaw’s presence is mostly in British Columbia and Alberta and to a lesser extent in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario. However, the company owns Global TV and a number of other stations available in Ottawa.
In 1997, Shaw paid $5.5 million for the naming rights to the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton for 20 years. There is also a Shaw Centre, an aquatic and fitness facility, in Saskatoon. And Shaw Park is a baseball stadium in downtown Winnipeg.
Shaw Centre said it will continue to use Canada’s Meeting Place as its descriptor, and will continue to partner with Ottawa Tourism in all marketing efforts.
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