The city of Jacksonville has begun removing the Times-Union name from parts of the downtown performing arts center building and website in its attempt to resell the naming rights to the three-room entertainment venue dubbed the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts a quarter-century ago.
The newspaper, however, said it still owns the center’s naming rights and the city has no right to resell them.
The question to be answered is whether those naming rights obtained through a $3 million donation in 1994 had an expiration date or were they “in perpetuity.”
That’s when The Times-Union, under then-owner Morris Communications, based in Augusta, Georgia, bought the naming rights to the riverside entertainment complex for what the current owner of the newspaper, its publisher in 1994 and a senior city official at the time say was “in perpetuity”.
After workers were recently seen removing the Times-Union name from the center portico, Brian Hughes, Jacksonville’s administrative manager, told the Times-Union that the issue of the naming rights sale was first raised. times four years ago when the city was negotiating to put VyStar’s name on the Veterans Memorial Arena. That’s when the city realized that a new naming rights deal for the waterfront performing arts center was long overdue, Hughes said.
Most naming rights deals are time-limited and require annual payments, he said. This gives a revenue stream to the facility owner for upgrades and repairs. City-owned facilities that have naming rights agreements include TIAA Bank Land, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and 121 financial stage.
Hughes said the city approached GateHouse Media, which bought the Times-Union in 2017, but the company was not interested in paying to continue the deal. Gannet Co., the current owner of the newspaper, also past, he said.
“It was done early in the mayor’s term and was done ‘lawyer-to-lawyer,'” said Nikki Kimbleton, the city’s director of communications/public affairs. “Our representatives in [the Office of General Council] spoke to attorneys representing TU ownership at the time and were told they were not aware of any previous contracts and there was no renewed interest.”
Gannett, however, argues that the newspaper still owns the naming rights.
“Gannett contends that the official name of the Jacksonville Performance Center is and remains the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, and that these naming rights were granted in perpetuity based on the significant fees paid in 1994,” said Bernie Szachara, president of Gannett. publishing operations in the United States. “We strongly refute the baseless assertion that the city has the ability to resell naming rights. amicable with the city.
The Times-Union has asked the city and the symphony for documentation surrounding naming rights, including the names of any news company staff or representatives the city has approached about possibly renewing a naming agreement. naming rights.
Former publisher Cannon and city official Delaney said the deal was permanent
Although there are some discrepancies in their recollections of the deal struck nearly three decades ago, Carl Cannon, who was then the Times-Union publisher, and John Delaney, who was the chief of staff and l General Counsel for Mayor Ed Austin said they don’t remember any expiration date on the deal.
“My memory was that it was in perpetuity,” Delaney said. “The mindset of those things really changed with the NFL, whether you temporarily name the stadium and the arenas. But that wasn’t the thinking at the time. I remember a few years ago looking back and thinking that was a really good deal for three million dollars.”
Cannon said he did not recall the details of the deal. “Only that we consider it to be in perpetuity,” he said.
In a special section marking the center’s opening in February 1997, Cannon referred to it as a direct donation to the symphonic association, which handled fundraising for the venue.
The deal could have been between the paper and the Jacksonville Symphony. The city owns the venue but passed an ordinance in 1994 allowing the symphony to name the venue and each of the rooms within. The ordinance waives a previous rule against naming facilities after living people and states that liquor and tobacco companies cannot be named as sponsors, but it does not address specifics of naming rights. including specific names or duration of the agreement.
Boca Raton’s Jim and Jan Moran paid $2 million to put their name to the venue’s grand performance hall, now known as the Moran Theater; Robert E. Jacoby of Ponte Vedra Beach paid $2.5 million for the naming rights to Jacoby Symphony Hall; and C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry paid an undisclosed amount to name the smaller theater Terry.
In a statement, Steven Libman, president and CEO of the symphony, said those names on those sites would not change.
The permanence of the Times-Union naming rights deal was reported outside of Jacksonville, including at the time by The (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer, and later, the Orlando Sentinel .
Potential Times-Union center renaming incurs additional costs
Hughes said the city is working with Global ASM, the company that runs most of the city-owned entertainment venues, to find a new sponsor for the performing arts center. The Jacksonville Symphony, which has offices in the building, he said, retains naming rights to the venue’s three performance spaces: the 2,900-seat Moran Theatre, the 600-seat Terry Theater and the Jacoby Symphony. Lobby.
Hughes said the cost associated with the name change would be around $30,000 to $40,000. “Which is real money, but in the grand scheme of things it will be clawed back many times over.”
Libman said there would be costs involved in the name change, in printed materials, and on the symphony’s website. But the important thing is to make sure people still associate the place with the symphony.
“The ‘Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts’ has always been closely associated with ‘Jacksonville Symphony’ in the minds of members of our community for nearly 30 years, so we expect there to be some confusion, but we will certainly work diligently to minimize the impact on our customers and our community,” he said.
On Friday, a sign bearing the name of the Times-Union Center still appeared outside the center. The place is website address is still timesunioncenter.com, but the logo on the site refers to it as the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts. The symphony’s website also refers to the venue as the Times-Union Center.
The center is one of the busiest venues in the city, hosting performances from symphony, music and comedy concert tours and most FSCJ Artist Series shows. This weekend, Jay Leno played at the Moran Theater and the symphony played a pair of “Classic Broadway” performances at the Jacoby Symphony Hall. More … than 70 events are currently reserved for the center.
