Asked about changing the Asheville Civic Center's name to the U.S. Cellular Center (with no apparent mention of the town), Civic Center Director Sam Power replied:
"We will continue using a geographic descriptor to distinguish our facility where practical, which is U.S. Cellular Center Asheville. The new name is reflective of the public-private partnership with U.S. Cellular and is identical to other similar venues such as the RBC Center, the Bi-Lo Center, Time-Warner Cable Arena, and Bojangles Coliseum. The U.S. Cellular Center Asheville will continue to have a strong commitment to hosting civic events, and will have enhanced capabilities enabled as a result of this new partnership."
Here's the full release from the city of Asheville about the announcement that the civic center would get an upgrade and a name change, thanks to a partnership with U.S. Cellular.
FROM THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE (full release)
U.S. Cellular (NYSE: USM) and the City of Asheville announced today that the wireless carrier will make a significant investment in the Asheville Civic Center, which will be renamed the U.S. Cellular Center. The facility is in the heart of downtown Asheville’s arts and entertainment area.
The funding will support a number of improvements that are underway with initial funding by the City of Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority Product Development grant. The major improvements will elevate the fan experience at the U.S. Cellular Center, including a new state-of-the-art sound system, redesign of the concession area to accommodate a food court that offers more choices for attendees, plus new TV monitors, better lighting and acoustics on the concourse level.
"The U.S. Cellular Center is a great venue to bring friends and families together,” said Jack Brundige, director of sales for U.S. Cellular in western North Carolina. “For almost 25 years we’ve been serving our customers in the Asheville area, and our commitment to our communities is just one of the many reasons U.S. Cellular has the happiest customers in wireless."
The enhancements will also make the U.S. Cellular Center a more attractive destination for top musical acts, performing arts and sporting events, with upgraded arena lighting that meets the standards of national TV outlets like ESPN.
“This investment will allow us to bring in even more dynamic talent, exciting events and fans to the city,” said Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy. “We’re delighted about the potential economic and cultural benefits this additional partnership will bring to our city and look forward to many great experiences at the new U.S. Cellular Center.”
A long standing goal of the Civic Center Commission and the City of Asheville has been to seek out partnerships that support the renovation of the venue. The final action in the U.S. Cellular partnership is for City Council to receive public comment and vote on the licensing agreement at the next formal Council meeting scheduled for Nov. 22.
“Attendees at the U.S. Cellular Center can stay connected to their friends and family members during an event, update their status on their favorite social media sites or show off their great seats with a picture message on U.S. Cellular's high-speed nationwide network, which has the highest call quality and network satisfaction of any carrier,” said Brundige.
About U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular rewards its customers with unmatched benefits and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier has a strong line-up of cutting-edge devices that are all backed by its high-speed nationwide network that has the highest call quality of any national carrier. U.S. Cellular was named a J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Customer Service Champion and received PC Magazine’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Award. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.
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How much is the significant investment?
By Jeff Fobes
11/10/2011
This from the online Asheville Citizen-Times today:
The funding, up to $1.3 million over eight years, will support several improvements that were started with initial funding from the city and Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority Product Development grant. Improvements include a new state-of-the-art sound system, redesign of the concession area to accommodate a food court that offers more choices for attendees, plus new TV monitors, better lighting and acoustics on the concourse level, according to a news release from the city.
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20111110/NEWS/311100057/1001/NEWS
By Jeff Fobes
11/10/2011
Mayor Terry Bellamy sold out our civic center to U.S. Cellular for "up to $1.3 million over eight years" according to ACT.
Also "City Council will receive public comment and vote on the agreement at its next meeting on Nov. 22." But I suppose this is a done deal by city council. What do you bet?
By AshevilleNCNative
11/10/2011
I will never call it that. Selling off "naming rights" is one of the most depressing things a municipality can do. Gone are the days of a community supporting their 'civic center'. Now we have to pretend to treat giant corporations as the benevolent hosts of our former 'commons'.
How involved was Jan Davis in selling the naming rights of "the Center Formerly Known as Civic"? He had to be point person, right? Interesting that the news drops two days after the election...
And BTW, US Cellular is the last sucky cell company I will go to if I decide to junk my current sucky cell company.
By Barry Summers
11/10/2011
"Gone are the days of a community supporting their 'civic center'."
Well, isn't that the communities fault?
By bill smith
11/13/2011
Is it OK to assume that the installation of these "enhancements" will be completed in less than four months between 12/10/11 (Xmas Jam) and 3/2/12 (Southern Conference Tournament)?
By ashevillain7
11/10/2011
Why not? Virtually everything else is becoming corporatized as we continue to head towards a complete metamorphosis from representative democracy to overt plutocracy. If the Supreme Court, Inc. can ignore 100 years of jurisprudence and case law and declare a corporation a 'person', then the rest is a cake-walk.
And Barry, may I recommend one non-sucky cell phone company...it's named Credo, and it is 100% owned and operated by real progressives. And they are aggressively buying out contracts people have with the other carriers.
By Dionysis
11/10/2011
Going once, going twice, Sold!!!... Oh wait, nobody else new that the center was for sale... There was only one bidder... :/
Does anyone know if U.S. Cellular will make any money off of the Civic Center revenue in this deal?
By Matthew Burd
11/10/2011
Or - simply dare not to use a cell phone! I'll never have one!
By Jim Donato
11/11/2011
Anyone know why this article disappeared off of the AC-T website?
By Sam I Am
11/11/2011
It seems to me if you added up all the local, state and federal taxes, fees and charges tacked on to all the phone, wireless and cable bills in Buncombe County alone it would amount to more than 1.3 million dollars on a monthly basis. Has a one of these communications companies done anything to improve their basic infrastructure or service capabilities that some of these fees are collected for? Has any government entity used these communication service taxes to expand service to rural areas unserved by the private companies? Nope and nope.
Now people are supposed to be grateful that US Cellular has stepped in and saved the Asheville Civic Center for the city in a time of economic distress and all they want in return is to change the name. Not likely. That's just the beginning.
The cities announcement above reads like really really bad and lazy PR copy handed out on a tacky flyer by some dubious person on the street corner. Better get used to it if you plan to use the Asheville Sell Y'aller Center
By Christopher C NC
11/11/2011
Is this for real? Sold our name for a mess of pottage?
How revolting, sad, sickening, disheartening, and altogether unnecessary!
By Betty Cloer Wallace
11/11/2011
Interesting point about the timing, Barry.
Question: if City Council needs to give final approval, why does the press release announce and repeatedly refer to the new name/deal as if it already happened?
Public input, eh? Sounds like that has been circumvented already. Jot this one down in the notebook when investigating future campaign contributions for sitting career politicians with greater ambitions.
By Eamon Martin
11/11/2011
It must be a done deal. The words Asheville and Civic have been removed from the side of the Civic Center facing Lexington Ave. I noticed this a couple of days ago. The word Center remains, evidently awaiting US and Cellular to join it.
By RHS
11/11/2011
I noted a few weeks ago that the signage on the side of the Civic Center had only the one word remaining. So this odd situation may not have anything to do with this week's announcement.
By Jeff Fobes
11/12/2011
Wouldn't it be a good idea- once selling the naming rights was assumed to be a good idea--to advertise a public RFP (request for proposals) and take the highest bidder that wasn't inappropriate. How would anyone know what a market value for such rights would be otherwise?
By Keith
11/11/2011
This is really not a lot of money for naming rights to an arena. There is either something else going on behind the scenes (as is usually the case with the Civic Center)... or this is just a bad deal for the City. $162,500 per year is not the shot in the arm that place needs. Personally... unless things have changed, I doubt the place will last another 8 years
By Bob Rest
11/12/2011
I'm not in favor of naming rights in general, but I wonder if any local companies had a shot at this?
By Barry Summers
11/12/2011
Like who? You think brew and view could foot the bill?
By bill smith
11/13/2011
I suspect Ingles might jump at the chance.
By Barry Summers
11/13/2011
Asked about changing the Asheville Civic Center's name to the U.S. Cellular Center (with no apparent mention of the town), Civic Center Director Sam Power replied:
"We will continue using a geographic descriptor to distinguish our facility where practical, which is U.S. Cellular Center Asheville."
That's helpful, because there's already a "US Cellular Center" in Des Moines Iowa,
http://www.uscellularcenter.com/
a "US Cellular Coliseum" in Bloomington Illinois,
http://www.uscellularcoliseum.com/
a "US Cellular Arena" in Wisconsin,
http://uscellulararena.org/
"Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion" in New Hampshire (at least they negotiated their city's name into the thing),
http://www.meadowbrook.net/
another "US Cellular Pavilion" in Portland Maine,
http://tinyurl.com/7bxhda6
"U.S. Cellular Community Park" in Medford Oregon,
http://www.sportsmedford.com/ssp/about_usccp
and don't forget "US Cellular Field" in Chicago
http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/ballpark/index.jsp
BTW, the US Cellular wiki page is already proclaiming it a done deal, saying the renaming will occur in March 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Cellular#Corporate_sponsorship
By Barry Summers
11/12/2011
Wow! The Asheville Sell Y'aller Center feels so special now.
By Christopher C NC
11/13/2011
I can (sort of) understand selling the name of a field, arena, coliseum, park, or pavilion, but not a Civic Center! That's like selling the soul of the city, or a birthright, and for very little money at that.
By Betty Cloer Wallace
11/13/2011
Surely not!
I can (sort of) understand selling the name of a field, arena, coliseum, park, or pavilion, for some help with upkeep, however questionable, but not a Civic Center! That's like selling the soul of a city or a birthright for a mere pittance, and even worse, selling it to the 1% that think all of America is for sale.
What is happening to us?
We've sold so much already, including even our seaports, which have been sold to foreigners and which now jeopardize our national security. What will we have left, if anything, if we keep on selling our hearts and souls!
By Betty Cloer Wallace
11/14/2011