Rochelle Riley: What's in an arena name? Lots of money
Ilitch Holdings President and CEO Christopher Ilitch set off quite the buzz at lunch Tuesday when he said a sponsor has purchased naming rights to the new Red Wings arena that will anchor five neighborhoods and change the face of Midtown.
“We haven’t talked a lot about this publicly,” he said. “But we actually will be announcing the naming-rights sponsor in the next month or two. I’m not breaking any news … but we’re excited. The interest has been phenomenal.”
Is "phenomenal" a big enough word?
Oooh! Let’s try to guess:
How about Rocket Arena (if Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert bought the naming rights as fast as he buys buildings)?
“That would be an interesting negotiation, but I’m going to stay out of that,” said Rock Ventures CEO Matthew P. Cullen. “I don’t know.”
“We’re not confirming that at all, and I’m not saying one darn word more than that,” Jennifer Arapoff, director of marketing and communications with Olympia Entertainment, said with a laugh.
But that didn’t stop us from guessing:
What about Meijer Arena in honor of the two retail stores already in Detroit and perhaps more to come? I didn’t even call Rick Keyes, president of the Meijer chain. Why bother? If Chris Ilitch says he’s going to announce in a month or two, Keyes won’t say sooner.
But that still didn’t stop the guessing.
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Since Gordie Howe has a bridge, how about Steve Yzerman Arena? Well. It could happen. Maybe not.
Colleagues suggested Google Arena, just because, or Spirit Arena for one of the fastest-growing (in passengers and complaints) airlines, which was founded in Macomb County but is now based in Florida and has 24 different baggage fees.
But the business-savvy Ilitches could have sold it to themselves and decided to call the megaplex PizzaPizza Arena.
Nah-h-h-h.
Ilitch’s comments came during a chat with KC Crain, executive vice president of Crain Communications at Crain’s annual Newsmakers of the Year Luncheon. He and his father, Mike Ilitch, were named Newsmakers of the Year. Affable and comfortable in a tie he said his wife picked out, the younger Ilitch said he was honored to be included among newsmakers he said were “doing really serious work, really impressive work.”
“We’re making pizzas and trying to win Red Wings games and trying to win a few ball games,” he said with a laugh and in deference to top newsmakers who included Skillman President Tonya Allen, Gilbert, Jack Aronson of Garden Fresh, Jon Cotton of Meridian Health Plan, Jan Garfinkle of Arboretum Ventures, Ann Marie Sastry of Sakti3 Inc, Matt Simoncini of Lear Corp., Dale Watchowski of Redico and Gov. Rick Snyder, who was absent.
Freep readers suggest name for new Red Wings arena
Ilitch didn’t name the naming sponsor, but he did proudly confirm that Olympia is doing what it promised in providing local jobs.
More than half of the 60,000 hours that have gone into construction and development have been done by Detroit residents, he said to applause.
And of the $300 million in building contracts, 96% have gone to Michigan-based firms and 64% to Detroit-based firms, he said.
“There is no doubt this place is gonna be the loudest, most rockin’ arena in the NHL,” he said.
Asked if he has come up with a name for the arena or if there was an update, Ilitch said: “Yes.”
And that was all he had to say about that.
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Contact Rochelle Riley at 313-378-5135. Follow her on Twitter @rochelleriley for updates on the #FlintWaterCrisis and the Detroit Public Schools.