Prince George city council approved the renewal of the naming rights agreement for the CN Centre until 2030 at its meeting on Monday, March 24.
The current agreement for the CN Centre expires on March 31, 2025.
CN Rail has held the naming rights for the venue, previously known as the Prince George Multiplex, since 2005.
According to a report prepared by city staff, the most recent agreement with CN included an option for the company to renew the contract for another five years with the same terms, except for the licensing fee and the renewal option.
"This clause is part of the current council-approved agreement; however, administration is of the view that we require council approval for the renewal licence fee," the staff report said.
For the proposed new five-year term from 2025 to 2030, staff have negotiated a rate of $100,000 per year for a total of $500,000. That’s a 33.33 per cent increase from the last five years, which resulted in a total payment of $375,000.
The original 15-year agreement from 2005 to 2020 paid the city a total of $1 million: $100,000 per year from 2005 to 2010 and $50,000 per year from 2010 to 2020.
Under the terms of the agreement, which are largely the same as the original 2005 document, CN has the right to rename the facility if the company changes its name. The city retains the right to rename portions of the facility, provided that the new name does not correspond to a competitor of CN within the freight sector.
Prince George also agreed in the original document to send emails to CN from time to time, informing the company about events being held at the venue. If any events fall under certain conditions set out by CN, such as those involving violence or pornography, CN has the right to publicly disassociate itself from them. This occurred when the arena hosted the "Battle of the Hockey Enforcers" event in 2005.
In the original agreement, CN also paid $300,000 plus GST to occupy private suite No. 1 in the arena, with payments made in annual instalments of $20,000.
During the meeting, Coun. Cori Ramsay mentioned that she had recently represented council at a CN-themed night during a Cougars game. At the event, company representatives spoke positively about their relationship with the city and the negotiations led by Andy Beesley, director of civic facilities and events.
She also congratulated city staff on negotiating the increase to the city's fee in the renewed agreement.
Coun. Tim Bennett asked whether the city budgets for the removal of branding if a naming rights agreement is not renewed. Director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio said it depends on the agreement, noting that sometimes the sponsor bears the costs of branding removal.
Beesley explained that the original agreement was front-loaded to allow the city to cover costs such as changing business cards, but CN had gone above and beyond in taking on many of the rebranding costs at the facility itself.
Coun. Kyle Sampson suggested that, with the facility’s 30th anniversary coming up later this year and the 20th anniversary of the CN branding, it might be a good opportunity for the city and the company to collaborate on hosting a major community event.
Mayor Simon Yu joked that perhaps CN could help bring Elton John back for a concert after his previous show in 2010. Coun. Ron Polillo chimed in to note that John had recently retired.
Coun. Susan Scott asked if CN might be willing to sponsor the Little Prince miniature train at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park. Ramsay mentioned there had been some discussion of that during negotiations over the naming rights.
