Aurora City Councilman Larry Beer believes he has found a way for the city to raise millions of dollars without a lot of effort or expense.
Beer is promoting the idea that Aurora should sell marketing rights and advertising space on its properties.
Cities that have sold advertising rights have generated revenues equal to about 2 percent of their general fund, Beer told City Council recently, citing a study. He estimates that would represent $4 million to $4.5 million a year in additional money for Aurora.
“That translates into a lot of police cars,” he said.
Among the possible venues are seven public golf courses, a skate park, baseball fields and basketball courts, soccer fields and recreation centers.
Another idea being bandied about: selling rooftop space that would be visible to passengers in airplanes coming to and from Denver International Airport.
Beer said the plan hasn’t moved far enough forward to determine where specific ads might go. But governments’ selling naming rights isn’t novel, even in Colorado.
The special districts behind Coors Field and Invesco Field at Mile High sold naming rights. School districts place product ads in their stadiums.
And the Regional Transportation District has carried advertisements on its vehicles for years.
Advertisers continue to seek out innovative approaches in an effort to grab people’s attention, said Pocky Marranzino, president and chief executive of Karsh & Hagan, a Denver advertising agency.
“Consumers are getting used to it,” Marranzino said.
Whether they like it or not is another question, he said.
Aurora will have to be careful to not offend public sensibilities with the ads and names it accepts. Advertisers will want to make sure they are reaching the right audience.
People walking into municipal court offer a different market than the one headed to soccer fields on Saturday mornings.
Beer, in his first term, works as a commercial real-estate broker and has worked in advertising.
The council’s operations and environmental-affairs committee, which Beer oversees, passed the suggestion on to city staff April 25 for further study, including what venues might qualify.
The city will also seek a marketing firm in coming months to help it find advertisers.
But don’t expect Aurora to go so far as Dish, the Texas town known until November as Clark.
Town leaders agreed to take the brand used by EchoStar Communications of Douglas County in return for free satellite-TV services for its 130 residents.
The name of Aurora isn’t for sale, Beer said.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
