Moncton’s $113-million downtown event centre will be known as the Centre Avenir Centre from now on – after a New Brunswick based company bought the naming rights.
Avenir Hearing President Denis LeBlanc explains one of the reasons he wanted to go ahead was visibility for their industry.
“The hearing health industry has a challenge, the awareness level usually lacks, so we thought that this was just the chance of a lifetime for us to use this world class venue and really be able to promote better hearing health,” says LeBlanc.
He continues, “we will be offering free ear plugs to everyone who is taking part in any sort of concert or noisy event, because obviously it would be kinda strange for us to put our name on a sign on a building that’s hosting noisy events and not do anything.”
LeBlanc adds this was also an opportunity to give back to the community.
The first signage will be going up within the building on September 9th, with the first exterior sign the following day.
The largest sign, at 14 feet tall, will be mounted in the coming weeks.
The agreement is for five years, with an option to renew the contract for another five years.
Meanwhile, City of Moncton Deputy Mayor Greg Turner is very pleased with the new Centre Avenir Centre as the name for the Main Street event fixture.
“I was thrilled, quite frankly, to hear that it was a local company, a local entrepreneur,” says Turner. “It just couldn’t be more fitting for a world class facility to have a name on it that’s going to be a world class company home grown right here in Moncton.”
Turner was asked about whether the City knows financial details of the naming rights deal.
“SMG [Canada] knows the figures, whatever they may be, we as a city do not know the figures, and we don’t intend to know the figures,” says Turner. “Just like we don’t know the Wildcats contract, we don’t know Keith Urban’s contract.”
Turner continued, “but we know how much money we’re getting from SMG on a yearly basis, plus the incentives.”
Turner says for every ticket sold, a portion will be redirected to the City of Moncton, so SMG is paying them a flat fee each year, plus additional money from each ticket sold.
He says the city contracted out management services to SMG Canada, as they are professionals, and so it was the responsibility of SMG to cut the best deal they could for naming rights.
Turner says it wasn’t just about money, but was about the right kind of partnership, and the right kind of deal that worked for the community, the city, and SMG.
Avenir Hearing, the company that successfully acquired the naming rights, is a New Brunswick owned audiology group with 11 clinics across the province.
Avenir Centre General Manager Nick DeLuco says Avenir Hearing’s story has been a ‘remarkable one, they’ve grown from one clinic in New Brunswick to 11 in only 10 years,” adding “we are thrilled Avenir, under Denis’ leadership has answered the call to support the events centre.”
The public will get their first in person look at the interior of the downtown centre this weekend starting at 10 o’clock Saturday morning with free events all weekend long, including tours.
