Austin, Texas-based computer giant Dell Computer Corp. may have more on the line in Nashville than the lucrative land giveaway package the Metro Council is considering as an incentive for the company to expand here.
Over the last two months, Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold has pitched company officials on the idea of buying naming rights to the yet-unnamed downtown arena.
“They want to make sure they get everything done locating here before they make a decision,” Leipold says of Dell’s interest in having its corporate name emblazoned on the arena.
“Yes, we have had conversations with the Dell people in Austin, and we’re encouraged by their thoughts.” Leipold says Dell “wants to have a presence in Nashville and we feel we have something to offer them.” Leipold termed the discussions “preliminary.”
As the anchor tenant of the arena, the NHL Predators would collect all of the annual revenue from naming rights, which is expected to bring in as much as $1 million to $2 million annually.
Unlike many arrangements in other cities, Nashville officials agreed to give the NHL franchise 100 percent of the revenue generated by any naming rights package. Likewise, the NFL Titans will keep 100 percent of whatever they ultimately take in—presumably from Pittsburgh-based Hyperion Communications, the telecommunications company Titans officials have been negotiating with—for naming rights to the stadium.
Leipold has also met with other companies about the naming rights, although he didn’t disclose the names of the entities. “We’re talking to a couple of companies. Two of them are very, very serious,” he says. “I cannot say who they are, but we feel that we are past the point of just having conversations. We’re having serious dialogue with them.”
