Still No Naming Rights for Louisville Arena

A naming rights sponsor still hasn’t been found for the new Louisville arena.The consulting group Team Services is conducting the search for a $2-million-a-year contract. So far, they’ve approached 70 local, regional and national companies, and about 16 of those are still in active talks for the naming rights to the arena.The Louisville Arena Authority got an update this morning on how the search is going. Chairman Jim Host says he was at first disappointed a sponsor hasn’t been found.“The thing I’m encouraged about is what progress we’re making on the other sponsors, and the fact that they committed today, and they’re very conservative in their commitments, that they’ll have eight to ten million more done in the next 90 days," says Host, "[it] bodes well for us because we’ll hit the number whether we have a naming rights deal or not.”Those other sponsorships include rights to soda, beer, spirits, and cornerstone shops in the public area of the arena.Host says it’s not the right time for a lot of large corporations, such as banks, to put their name on a large project, because of the economy.