The snappiest new airport terminal to open in North America for a good long while could well have your name on it. Or your company's. That's because in Detroit, where a new terminal is set to open on September 17, the airport owners, the Wayne County Airport Authority, are open to suggestions. They've hired a Denver company named General Sports Alliances to sell the naming rights to the new $430-million facility at Detroit Metro, the eleventh busiest US airport. People think this is the first time an airport has sold naming rights, although it's fairly common for airlines to pay to put their name on a sports facility or the like. Even the old USAir put its name on sports arena that used to be called the Capital Centre, in suburban Washington, although the airline changed its name and then moved to Arizona, while the Centre was imploded and then torn down.
.
We are pretty sure the namer won't be Northwest, which already dominates the airport, or Ford, which already has its name on one of the Motor City's athletic facilities, or a bank, Comerica, which put its name on another sports venue. With Chrysler
nearly bust....General Sports Alliances has a brochure boasting about how much time frequent flyers spend in airport terminals as an advantage of having your name on the building.The new terminal is expected to see about seven million flyers in its first year, and the building it replaces, the Berry Terminal, will be decommissioned and torn down.
My name for the Detroit-Wayne County (DTW) Metropolitan airport's newest terminal? Given the state of Michigan's economy at the moment, I'd say:
Departures Only