The Miami Beach Convention Center might soon be renamed under a proposed 10-year sponsorship agreement that the city is negotiating with Norwegian Cruise Line. If approved by the City Commission, the city-owned building would be renamed the Norwegian Cruise Line Center at Miami Beach.
City Manager Alina Hudak announced the proposed naming-rights deal Monday in a memo to commissioners. She said the deal would earn the city between $1 million and $1.35 million per year. It would begin March 1 and end January 2032, according to the memo.
Hudak said the city and NCL discussed dedicating the sponsorship revenue toward public safety, parks and wellness, cultural arts, sustainability and other areas.The 1.4-million-square-foot convention center has hosted Art Basel, a Super Bowl fan convention and regularly scheduled expos. It underwent a $620 million renovation in 2018.
Compared to other convention-center deals, Hudak said, the proposed sponsorship agreement would be among the highest grossing in the country.
“The proposed annual value of the City of Miami Beach and NCL partnership at $1.175M/year would make the Convention Center one of the top Naming Rights Agreements by annual investment value in the country,” she wrote in the memo.
Influential Miami Beach developer Russell Galbut is chairman of the board for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
The convention center is not the only city-owned building that could potentially be renamed. The city signed a contract in 2020 with Spectra, the company that manages the convention center, to look for sponsorship deals for six other public facilities, city-owned parking garages and two future projects.The list includes the North Beach Bandshell, the Colony Theater, Historic City Hall on Washington Avenue and the office building that is near the current City Hall and houses some city departments.
Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez said she opposes the proposed agreement to rename the convention center.
“I am 100% against the prostitution of our city assets — I would have never voted to approve the Spectra contract and I plan to fight this current naming rights proposal,” she wrote in a text message.
A city spokeswoman said the city administration is not currently negotiating any other naming-rights agreements but that commissioners approved the list of other properties to potentially be considered for sponsorship agreements.
“All buildings on the list are potentials for naming rights, but we have not been presented with any other concrete proposals at this time,” she wrote in an email.
Source: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article257043507.html