Barrie Molson Centre renaming rights deal referred back to staff

Residents of Barrie are going to have to wait a while longer to find out what the Barrie Molson Centre will be called starting next year.

At city council June 18, members voted to refer a deal, which would have sold the rights to Paul Sadlon Motors Inc., back to staff.

Paul Sadlon Motors was looking to buy the naming rights to the area for the next 25 years. If the deal went through, the company would have paid a total $2 million through annual $100,000 installments over the next 20 years.

However, at last week’s general committee meeting, councillors raised concerns over the price tag.

Coun. Doug Shipley cited several other cities in Ontario who sold naming rights to similar facilities for around $200,000 a year. He said at a minimum, Barrie should be seeking a comparable price.

Councillors echoed these concerns at Monday night’s meeting, and decided to refer the matter back to staff to see if the city could find a buyer willing to pay more for the rights.

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The naming rights for the Barrie Molson Centre had been negotiated in 1994 as part of a land-swap deal between the City of Barrie and Molson Canada. In the deal, the city received nine acres of land valued at around $1 million, and in return, Molson received naming rights of the facility.

According to the staff report, the current naming rights are set to expire Dec. 31, 2018. In September 2017, city staff approached Molson Coors about renewing the naming rights. The company declined the offer.

City staff sent out a press release in January, inviting businesses to buy the rights. Eight companies were shortlisted. After several meetings and negotiations, a deal was drafted with Paul Sadlon Motors.

Now that council has rejected the draft deal, staff are tasked with finding a buyer willing to pay more for the iconic Barrie arena.