Telus Naming Rights Proposal For BC Place Stadium Rejected

March 9, 2012

British Columbia Rejects Telus Naming Rights Proposal
After almost two years of talks with telecommunications company Telus, British Columbia’s provincial government has declined an offer of $40million for the naming rights for Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium for 20 years.
Following a $563million redevelopment, which hopes to prolong the facilities existence for a minimum of 40 years, the BC Place re-opened in September. The $40million provided by Telkus would probably have gone towards the renovation bill of the home of Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps and Canadian Football League’s BC Lions.
The potential agreement would have seen a rebranding strategy for the stadium, but Pat Bell, the minister of jobs, tourism and innovation felt that BC Place should retain it’s original name. By not agreeing to a name change, Bell hopes that BC Place officials will be able to exceed $40million over the same 20 year period. He said: “For us the underlying principal came back to the name BC Place
“There are many in cabinet and many across the province who believe that name has tremendous value to it and we wanted to retain that. Telus was certainly of the view that they didn’t want any reference to BC Place, and I understand that. They felt very strongly about it. Cabinet felt equally strongly in the other direction and in the end we thought it was important to retain the integrity of the name BC Place.”
Telus President and CEO Darren Entwistle stated: “I think Telus is deeply disappointed with this decision, which we find regrettable. We believe that Telus, our brand, and our 25,000 team members across British Columbia, would have been a great partner for one of the premier sports facilities in all of North America.”

After almost two years of talks with telecommunications company Telus, British Columbia’s provincial government has declined an offer of $40million for the naming rights for Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium for 20 years. 

Following a $563million redevelopment, which hopes to prolong the facilities existence for a minimum of 40 years, the BC Place re-opened in September. The $40million provided by Telkus would probably have gone towards the renovation bill of the home of Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps and Canadian Football League’s BC Lions.

The potential agreement would have seen a rebranding strategy for the stadium, but Pat Bell, the minister of jobs, tourism and innovation felt that BC Place should retain it’s original name. By not agreeing to a name change, Bell hopes that BC Place officials will be able to exceed $40million over the same 20 year period. He said: “For us the underlying principal came back to the name BC Place“There are many in cabinet and many across the province who believe that name has tremendous value to it and we wanted to retain that. Telus was certainly of the view that they didn’t want any reference to BC Place, and I understand that. They felt very strongly about it. Cabinet felt equally strongly in the other direction and in the end we thought it was important to retain the integrity of the name BC Place.”

Telus President and CEO Darren Entwistle stated: “I think Telus is deeply disappointed with this decision, which we find regrettable. We believe that Telus, our brand, and our 25,000 team members across British Columbia, would have been a great partner for one of the premier sports facilities in all of North America.”