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![TMCNet: Tacoma Power says no to Dome [The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
Tacoma Power says no to Dome [The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.]
(News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 30--Imagine traveling Interstate 5 as it sweeps traffic toward the blue-and-white bubble at Tacoma's northern gateway, where a marquee flashes a new name for an aging icon: The Tacoma Power Dome.
"The name," said Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, "has a certain zip to it."
But Baarsma's idea to sell the city-owned Tacoma Dome's naming rights to the city-owned utilities for money to "green up" the 26-year-old venue has apparently flickered out.
Among other problems, TPU officials say, the idea poses questions about the best use of public dollars.
"If we were a private industry with a lot of competition, maybe this is something we'd be pursuing," said Tacoma Public Utilities Board Chairwoman Laura Fox. "But I don't think it's an appropriate use of ratepayer dollars to buy naming rights."
The utility has since countered with an offer to buy some advertising at the Dome in addition to carrying out an existing conservation program that would help the facility reduce its power bills by more than $65,000 per year.
"It's a great step in the right direction," Baarsma said of the offer. "But I do think there's a missed opportunity here."
The idea to sell naming rights to the Dome in part was sparked from Comcast's unsuccessful bid to buy them in 2003, Baarsma said. After a public outcry tilted the City Council against that deal -- partly because "Tacoma" would've fallen off the Dome's name, and partly because Comcast is the chief rival of the city utility's own cable network -- the cable giant abruptly withdrew its offer.
But a competing idea also emerged that Tacoma Power might be a more suitable namesake for the building, Baarsma said. TPU even made an offer that ultimately went nowhere.
Six years later, Baarsma said he resurrected the idea because "it makes a whole lot of sense given the current situation."
TPU now faces requirements under voter-approved Initiative 937 to get customers participating in conservation programs, on the utility's way to meeting specific energy reduction goals in the coming years.
Meanwhile, the budget-strapped Tacoma Dome is still operating with the same inefficient lighting system it has had since its construction in 1983. To make green lighting upgrades would cost the dome nearly $443,000, money city officials say the Dome doesn't have.
"As we noodled this, besides just selling exclusive naming rights we thought, 'Why not green up the dome and help (TPU) meet its (Initiative) 937 obligations in one fell swoop,'" Baarsma explained.
Baarsma, City Councilman Jake Fey and Tacoma public assembly facilities director Mike Combs took the idea to the TPU board earlier this month. Combs made the pitch that TPU could buy the naming rights -- including a new logo and other exclusive perks -- for $1.25 million over five years.
The deal would allow TPU to promote the Dome's green upgrades through informational kiosks, facility tours and in other ways, touting the utility's conservation programs, city officials said.
The city, in turn, would use the money to replace the Dome's lighting and make other upgrades.
"It really was just a starting point," Combs said. "The bigger picture is finding some energy efficiency in the building."
The idea was met tepidly. Aside from questions over the use of ratepayer dollars, TPU officials said even with the upgrades, the Dome wouldn't meet "green" building standards and so couldn't be touted as such.
"We're a utility and we've already got a monopoly in this area," added TPU board member Bob Casey. "From a marketing perspective, the naming rights part is not a big driver for us ... It just doesn't seem to be the best use of resources."
I-937 requires Tacoma Power's customers to save 5.4 average megawatt hours in 2010, said Chris Gleason, the utility's spokeswoman. The proposed upgrades for the Dome would save about .12 megawatt hours, she said. That's by no means bad, but not a huge portion of the conservation amount required.
Gleason added the city's naming rights proposal would have eaten up half of the utility's annual conservation marketing budget of about $500,000.
"The Dome probably reaches a lot of people, but it doesn't necessarily reach those we need to for our conservation programs," said Gleason, noting many of the facility's visitors are out-of-towners who aren't TPU customers.
Instead, TPU has proposed to pay more than $185,000 of the Dome's $443,000 price tag to replace its lighting system with a compact-fluorescent light bulb system and to do other upgrades. That subsidy is part of an existing conservation incentive program that TPU now offers its customers.
In addition, Gleason said, TPU has offered to buy about $36,000 in advertising, which the city could subtract from the Dome's debt, leaving a bill of about $222,000. The city could pay off that debt over five years in zero-interest loan payments about $1,800 per month less than what the Dome pays TPU now.
"That's a big chunk of savings," Gleason said.
City officials, who are considering the proposal, noted the naming rights idea was never meant to be an all-or-nothing offer.
"I'm not locked in to the naming rights part of it," said Fey, a former TPU board chairman who for years managed the utility's energy conservation programs. "The primary interest is seeing the conservation goals met."
But like Baarsma, Fey thinks the naming rights idea had merit.
"I don't know why they'd want to pass on it," Fey said. "Under I-937, they've got to convince a lot of people to make (conservation) investments, so they've got to advertise. The Tacoma Dome has a lot to offer in terms of trade."
Baarsma said aside from considering TPU's offer, he'll ask Combs to work with the city's Office of Sustainability to review other "green" possibilities for the dome, such as installing solar panels on its roof and seeking conservation grants
As for the "Tacoma Power Dome" name, Baarsma said, never say never.
"Who knows," he said. "That might come later."
Lewis Kamb: 253-597-8542
lewis.kamb@thenewstribune.com
TACOMA POWER DOME: DEAL OR NO DEAL?
To pay for conservation upgrades to the Tacoma Dome, the city has offered to sell the Dome's naming rights to Tacoma Power. Tacoma Public Utilities officials, who say they aren't interested in naming rights, have made a counter-proposal. Here's what each side has offered.
The city's offer:
TPU would pay the Tacoma Dome $1.25 million over five years. In turn, TPU would get:
--The Tacoma Power Dome name and new logo to be used in all venue promotions and advertisements.
--Stationary placement of Tacoma Power name on Interstate 5 marquee.
--Advertising on Dome's scoreboard and throughout its interior.
--Tacoma Dome Web site exposure, with a link to Tacoma Power's Web site.
--Tacoma Power to receive advertising rights on the Dome's ticket envelope; 12 tickets to all Dome events; and six passes to the dome's new Overlook Club.
--Complimentary use of the arena on a nonevent day.
TPU's offer:
Cost of recommended Tacoma Power-related conservation upgrades to Tacoma Dome: $442,890.
Of that:
--Tacoma Power would pay: $185,808 in incentives.
--Tacoma Power would buy 12 months of advertising on city signage for $36,000.
Net cost of conservation upgrades to the Tacoma Dome: $221,082.
Upgrades, in turn, would give the city:
--Average monthly savings on Dome's power bills (at current rates): $5,430
--Zero-interest loan payments for Dome over 60 months of $3,685.
--Estimated monthly cash flow to Dome: $1,745.
To see more of The News Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.TheNewsTribune.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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