The New Ulm Recreation Center might have a new name soon. New Ulm City Council held a closed session Tuesday to negotiate naming rights sales for the building. The city has been actively seeking sponsorship and naming rights for municipal facilities. The Recreation Center is the first facility to have naming rights interest from a third party.

NEW ULM – The New Ulm Recreation Center could undergo a name change.

The New Ulm City Council held a closed session meeting on Tuesday to consider offers or counteroffers for the sale of naming rights to the recreation center.

In January, the city council approved a service agreement with Front Burner Sports Service, a company that helps secure sponsorship and naming rights for municipal facilities. Through the agreement, Front Burner would solicit, evaluate and negotiate third-party naming rights for New Ulm’s recreation facilities.

Park and Recreation Director Joey Schugel said as a result of this process, there is interest from a third party in acquiring the naming rights to New Ulm’s Rec Center.

Schugel said the closed session hearing with the city council revolved around a potential contract point. No formal decision was made during the closed session, but staff were given direction from the council and no formal contract has been created yet.

Schugel said the contract would be the next step, which comes before the city council for final approval in open session. At that time, the name of the naming rights buyer would be made public.

Schugel said that since partnering with Front Burner Sports Services, Park and Rec has been working to get naming rights contracts for the larger recreation facilities. In addition to the Rec Center, they are actively working to get naming rights contracts for the Civic Center and German Park Amphitheater.

Schugel said the benefit of granting naming rights to facilities is that it would provide the city with additional revenue to offset the cost of some of these facilities. New Ulm’s park and recreation budget is one of the highest expenses for the city.

“It is exciting to go through the process,” Schugel said.

Park and Recreation’s stance is to provide value for all partners and reduce expense budgets.

Schugel said naming rights contracts can vary from facility to facility, but most contracts are long-term, lasting 10 to 20 years.

Schugel said in addition to overall naming rights for a building, there is potential for naming rights to smaller sections of the building. As an example, the naming rights for the Civic Center could be sold, as well as the naming rights for the arenas inside it.

Schugel said it was an interesting time to have discussions about naming rights because the naming rights to the Minnesota Wild hockey team area were recently sold. For 25 years, the arena was known as the Xcel Energy Center, but for at least the next 14 years, it will be known as the Grand Casino Arena.