Meridian Credit Union will get the naming rights to St. Catharines’ downtown, multi-purpose $50 million facility. The contract is a 15-year agreement at $200,000 a year. Meridian then as an option to renew for an additional 10 years at with a 2% compounded escalation rate that would make the last 10 year rate about $223,000 per year. That would bring the total to $5.23 million or an annual average of $209,000 over 25 years.
A city-commissioned study by Deloitte a couple of years ago revealed that Ontario Hockey League cities Mississauga, Windsor, Kingston, Oshawa and Sault Ste. Marie received between $1.5 million to $1.9 million over a 10-year term for their arena naming-rights or an annual naming right income of about $150,000 to $190,000 per year.
Meridian is Ontario’s largest credit union. With this sponsorship of $5.23 million the minimum fundraising goal set by city Council for the project will be exceeded.
The Meridian Centre is expected to open by Sept. 2014, and will be able to accommodate concerts, conventions, and assorted family shows and entertainment spectacles. It will have a capacity of 6,000 spectators for concerts and 4,500 for hockey games.