The Wisconsin Center District is in search of a new sponsor company after Delta Air Lines announced that it will not renew its naming rights contract to the Delta Center, the downtown Milwaukee convention center located at 400 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Under the original contract, established last September, Delta Air Lines took over the naming rights of the convention center from previous sponsor Frontier Airlines. Delta Air Lines assumed the last year of Frontier Airlines’ naming rights deal. That deal is set to expire at the end of June.
The Wisconsin Center District Board of Directors has been in communications with Delta Air Lines representatives about the future of the naming rights since the beginning of this year, according to District Board Chairman Franklyn Gimbel. Delta Air Lines, which funded an estimated $100,000 toward installation of signage at the Delta Center in February, no longer has an interest in the naming rights of the building, Gimbel said.
“They apparently view Milwaukee as not sufficiently important in their overall marketing strategy to retain the naming rights,” Gimbel said. “It’s just something internal to their own business that prompted the decision as I am told.”
The Wisconsin Center District is currently working with brokers to identify new sponsorship candidates. The center will retain its current Delta Center name until the end of June, at which point the district board plans to rename the building the Wisconsin Center.
Should the board secure a new sponsor company, it hopes to keep the Wisconsin Center name in order to strengthen the center’s brand.
“(The Wisconsin Center) is owned and operated by the Wisconsin Center District, a creature of the legislature, and the name will give it continuity,” Gimbel said.
