www.roanoke.com

Working on a story for tomorrow's paper and thought I'd post some paragraphs here ...

Roanoke Civic Center’s management company and a local advertising and sponsorship agency could put a lot of new advertisements on, in and around the civic center — and even give the venue a new name.

Read full print story here.

Global Spectrum, which runs the civic center, Roanoke-based Sponsor Hounds and the city completed a deal on Tuesday to sell advertising space at the venue. Sponsor Hounds, a small event-marketing company that has recently branched out into advertising sales, will work for commission.

> CORRECTION, per Sponsor Hound's Elliot Broyles: One quick note... <snip> We didn't just recently branch out into advertising sales, that's what we've always done and continue to do today.  We recently brached out to the business of placing advertising for clients (Advertising Agency) AKA: using our buying power to benefit local clients.  We sell and have always sold advertising for our events and others.  Advertising sales is what the company was started to do.

The deal should improve the venue’s look and create revenue by selling basic advertising, said Chris Connolly, who manages the civic center for Global Spectrum. Philadelphia-based Global Spectrum would like to sell naming rights to the facility, but that would be a tough sell in this ecomomic climate, Connolly said.

For now, he just wants to add some more advertising.

“Kroger and Pepsi are our only two existing sponsors, and they have been for the past few years,” Connolly said on Wednesday. “We have existing signage that’s been up for years.”

Selling the civic center’s name is part of the deal with Sponsor Hounds, but Connolly said he considers it a “background” issue, particularly without a permanent tenant in the building.

The civic center has not had such a tenant since 2006, when both the NBA-owned Roanoke Dazzle basketball team left and the Roanoke Valley Vipers hockey team folded. The Roanoke Steam arena football team and The Roanoke Express hockey team both have failed in the past few years.

The civic center continues to look for a permanent tenant. An indoor stock car racing league is interested in Roanoke, but Connolly said that no potential owners have stepped forward. He said that any sports venture would have to be part of an established league, with experienced and reputable ownership.

“We’re not kidding ourselves,” he said of selling the venue’s naming rights. “It’s not something that’s going to happen tomorrow ... If somebody’s interested, we’ll certainly talk about it. We feel like we’re on the upswing, and we’re counting on touring acts and our annual acts to keep increasing.”