ORLANDO ARENA GETS NEW NAME
12.07.2006
In a city with aspirations to be known as an area of high-technology and bio-tech excellence, a city which has been putting forth such efforts to rebuild its public image from a tacky .99 cent t-shirt tourist town to a legitimate metropolitan city offering an upscale urban lifestyle, what better way to promote the new Orlando than for the world to see and hear on ESPN, “The Magic mopped up the Heat tonight with a 110-81 win using a mop they picked out of the Amway catalog during half-time at the Amway Arena in Orlando”.
That promotes a much better view of our city than say, Electronic Arts Arena, SunTrust Arena, Darden Arena, or even the Universal or Disney Arena. You can’t top a public image for The City Beautiful than a catalog of cleaning products and tacky business schemes.
A naming rights agreement for the city-owned arena is expected to be officially announced today, naming the arena, “Amway Arena”. Amway is a Michigan-based company that was co-founded by Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos in 1959. The reported agreement is for four years, however, more disturbing is the exclusive first-rights naming option the company will have on the proposed new Arena as well. This means that there is a chance that our much anticipated new state of the art downtown arena may also bear the “Amway Arena” name. The timing of this announcement may actually work out nicely since the plans for the new arena can now incorporate a pyramid structure into the design.
Although the city owns the facility, the Magic control the naming rights, which was being leased to TD Waterhouse until recently for $1.7 million a year with the majority of that amount going to the Magic. Under the reported new deal with Amway, the lease amount has dropped considerably to only $375,000 a year over a four year period. The Orlando City Council however still must approve any name given to the facility, and a vote is expected as early as Monday.
Sources: Orlando Sentinel
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