Edmonton city council discusses selling more naming rights for rec centres, rinks and pools

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News

· Posted: May 21, 2025 7:42 PM EDT | Last Updated: 29 minutes ago

What's successful a name and what is it worth? Edmonton metropolis councillors wrestled with those questions connected Wednesday.

Edmonton metropolis councillors debated the pros and cons of pursuing much sponsorship deals for metropolis facilities connected Wednesday, with immoderate saying naming rights income could make much-needed gross for the metropolis — astir $21 cardinal implicit 10 years — and others saying facilities built with payer wealth shouldn't person firm names.

Administration is proposing that councillors pre-approve the naming conception merchantability for astir 2 twelve recreation centres, rinks, outdoor pools and retention facilities, allowing officials to initiate negotiations without coming to assembly to get support first.

Councillors Tim Cartmell, Sarah Hamilton, Andrew Knack, Aaron Paquette, Karen Principe, Jennifer Rice, Keren Tang and Jo-Anne Wright voted successful favour of streamlining the process while Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and councillors Michael Janz, Erin Rutherford, Ashley Salvador and Anne Stevenson opposed it. 

"We are successful importantly heavy fiscal straits," Cartmell said during the meeting. 

"We request each partnership, each dollar, each accidental we can."

Any imaginable sanction merchantability deals would inactive person to person last support from metropolis council.

Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford told CBC News successful an interrogation that adjacent though assembly has the last accidental implicit sponsorship deals, it tin beryllium hard for councillors to kibosh them aft unit person sunk resources into the negotiations and gross has been factored into the metropolis budget.

"It does consciousness precise overmuch similar that extremity checkpoint is conscionable a rubber stamp approval," she said. 

Excluding ample rec centres

Though assembly voted to springiness metropolis officials much state to research sponsorship deals, they aboriginal decided to reconsider that determination and contemplate excluding immoderate ample recreation centres from the database of facilities that could beryllium renamed.

Sohi said hundreds of millions of nationalist dollars person been invested successful the Clareview, Commonwealth, Kinsmen, Meadows and Coronation rec centres truthful they should clasp their existent names. 

City officials would inactive beryllium escaped to negociate deals for smaller facilities and amenities wrong buildings, helium said during the meeting.

City assembly postponed treatment connected the issue Wednesday day and it volition beryllium connected the docket for Friday's assembly meeting.

Booster Juice decision

The Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre was renamed past twelvemonth aft Booster Juice bought the impermanent naming rights for the facility.

The rec centre remains municipally tally but the institution paid for caller signs and pays the metropolis a sponsorship fee, which has not been publically released.

City officials told councillors during Wednesday's gathering and a assemblage and nationalist services gathering past week that the alteration has gone implicit well, without confusing residents oregon compromising the city's brand.

"We've been alternatively impressed with the sophistication of our users, that they're precise alert of the marque and whose wealth — theirs — has paid for these facilities," said Jennifer Flaman, the lawman metropolis manager of assemblage services, astatine past week's committee meeting.

Councillors heard connected Wednesday that of the thousands of inquiries the metropolis has received from the nationalist astir the installation since the sanction alteration announcement, lone 3 related to that topic.

Public appetite for sanction sales

A metropolis survey successful July 2020 recovered 80 per cent of much than 6,000 respondents were either comfy oregon neutral with selling naming rights to offset pandemic-related costs.

Another survey, successful November of past year, recovered 65 per cent of much than 4,000 respondents were either comfy oregon neutral with selling naming rights to offset operating costs.

Coun. Jo-Anne Wright said feedback she received from residents successful Ward Sspomitapi portion retired doorknocking past week reflected the metropolis survey results. 

Mayor Sohi, however, said helium heard disapproval from residents who felt the Booster Juice renaming determination diminished assemblage pridefulness — and that the gross generated by sanction income isn't capable to lick the city's fiscal challenges.

"These kinds of sponsorship agreements are not going to marque a immense quality successful closing that gap," helium said.