Delta Airlines has reportedly reached an agreement to purchase the naming rights for the Frontier Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee.
Franklyn Gimbel, board chairman of the Wisconsin Center District, said the district has reached an agreement with an entity to take over the last year of Frontier Airlines’ naming rights deal for the downtown Milwaukee convention center. That deal expires at the end of June 2013.
The district is in negotiations with that entity, which Gimbel declined to name, for a five-year extension of the naming rights deal, he said.
Sources said the Wisconsin Center District has been in negotiations with an airline for the naming rights, but they could not confirm that Delta is that airline.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today that the airline in the negotiations is Atlanta-based Delta.
A Delta spokesperson was not available to confirm the report.
Frontier Airlines has dramatically cut back its presence in Milwaukee, significantly reducing service and employment at Mitchell International Airport.
Meanwhile, Delta has expanded in Milwaukee and recently added service from Mitchell to New York.
The downtown Milwaukee convention center was originally named the Midwest Express Center. The name was later changed to Midwest Airlines Center when the company changed its name. The convention center’s name was later changed to Frontier Airlines Center after Republic Airways Holdings Inc. purchased Midwest and combined it with Frontier.