City may consider selling naming rights for public spaces
Posted June 14, 2011 7:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The city’s executive committee will consider a proposal next week that could lead to naming public spaces after corporate sponsors.
Even TTC subway stops could be up for grabs:
“As long as it’s called the right name, Spadina-McDonald’s or whatever, if it brings in revenue, I honestly don’t believe anyone cares,” Coun. Doug Ford (Etobicoke-North) said at City Hall on Tuesday.
“Obviously City Hall itself” is off limits, Ford added.
Corporate donations and sponsorships brought in about $44 million for the city last year.
In a report released earlier this month, city manager Joe Pennachetti said Toronto needs to broaden its sponsorship guidelines and “identify appropriate properties for potential naming rights.”
“Sponsorships and naming rights can generate revenue for Toronto that may offset rising program and capital costs,” Pennachetti said in the report. “However, there are no corporate-wide policies governing sponsorships or naming rights.”
He cited Calgary, Winnipeg, Chicago, and New York as cities that already sell naming rights, but says, in Toronto, the examples are few – Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, the Saturn Playground and the Franklin Children’s Garden.
Ford said a sponsor’s tag might appear on a sign in a park and would not change the park’s name. But Coun. Norm Kelly, chair of the parks environment committee, remained open to the idea of renaming a public space.
A 2006 Environics poll commissioned by Parks, Forestry and Recreation found about 69 per cent of those surveyed supported public-private partnerships in the city.
Pennachetti didn’t say in his report how much money the plan would generate.
