Eagle County is seeking naming rights partners for facilities at the fairgrounds
Sponsorships could help facilities pay for themselves
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
The Eagle County Fairgrounds facilities don’t pay their own way. Local or other businesses could help.
The Eagle County Fair and Rodeo is almost a moneymaker, recovering about 90% of its costs. Aside from that, the facilities could use some help with cost recovery. The campus currently recovers about 25% of its costs from users.
That’s why the county last year hired Apex Marketing Group to help find naming rights partners for facilities there, including the grandstands, the Eagle River Center, and the exhibit hall.
County facilities manager Jan Miller said naming rights partnerships could potentially double the cost recovery for the fairgrounds facilities.
In a phone interview, Miller said fairgrounds managers around the state have a variety of revenue programs.
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“Everyone’s got a little different strategy to operate in the black,” Miller said, acknowledging that most facilities don’t.
In looking around at various ways to bring in extra revenue for the fairgrounds, Miller said county facilities managers sought advice from Larimer County, which operates facilities including Blue Arena, a 6,800-seat facility at The Ranch Events Complex, formerly known as the county fairgrounds. Those people recommended hiring a consultant.
The difference in Eagle County is that the facilities are smaller and older. The newest, the Eagle River Center, dates to 2006. The grandstands were built in 1998. Miller was uncertain how old the exhibit hall is, but it’s pretty old.
In seeking naming rights partners, Miller said there’s “already been some interest” from area businesses, including from stakeholders in the county fair and rodeo.
Naming rights would be separate from the summer event, though.
The advantage of naming rights is exposure for the business, Miller said.
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“We’re hoping to attract someone that already has the budget or is community-minded,” she said, adding that it will probably be a local or regional business. Given the relatively small size of Eagle County, it’s unlikely a national business would have an interest in putting its name on a facility here 鈥� as Empower did for the Denver Broncos stadium or Ball did for the home of the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche.
Miller said there will be a few rules for any entity that wants to put its name on a fairgrounds facility.
The main rules are: no alcohol, marijuana or tobacco advertising will be allowed. Partners will probably be asked to sign on for a 10-year term, and the county has the right to rescind any deal.
To learn more, email esmallwood@apexmarketinggroup.net.
