Telus Close to Securing Naming Rights for BC Place

TELUS is finalizing a naming rights deal for the new BC Place stadium, one that is expected to be announced within weeks and will create a veritable “Telecom” corridor of sports and entertainment in downtown Vancouver.

Tom Mayenknecht on new BC Place deal

The Vancouver-based telecom, one of the largest employers in British Columbia and a corporation regarded as one of the most philanthropic in the country, will join competitors such as Rogers Communications (Rogers Centre in Toronto and Rogers Arena across the street in Vancouver), Bell Canada (Bell Centre in Montreal and Bell Senators Training Complex in Ottawa) and Videotron (likely to hold naming rights as part of Quebecor for the proposed Quebec City arena) as leading Canadian corporations with sports venues branded with their corporate or product line names.

The move would likely see the new BC Place stadium — which reopens September 30th after a $563 million renovation and installation of a retractable roof — renamed TELUS Park or Optik Park after the telecom’s fast-growing television service.

“I personally think this is a great deal for BC Pavco and a very good one for Vancouver, creating as it does a veritable telecom corridor of sports and entertainment venues side-by-side in the downtown core,” said Vancouver sport business commentator Tom Mayenknecht, host of The Sport Market on TEAM 1040 and teamradio.ca, our regular weekly sport business show. “Having a BC-based company assume this position is good news in my view, particularly one that has the wide-ranging community roots that TELUS has.”

Mayenknecht estimates the naming rights deal could be worth up to $2.5 million per year for PavCo, which owns and operates BC Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre.

“It’s a good deal in terms of intangibles and tangibles and is one of the top naming deals in Canada and among the top-10 per year of current deals in North America,” said Mayenknecht.

TEAM1410 is your home for both Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the BC Lions, the two primary tenants of BC Place.