The Moose Jaw Events Centre was known as Mosaic Place for the last 11 years, but that era comes to an end on August 31, 2022. Removal of the outdated signage at the venue continues as the Naming Rights Committee looks for new partners.
The city had planned to hire the outside consulting company Performance Sponsorship Group (PSG) for $29,000 to find a new naming partner. However, that agreement was postponed after several local residents volunteered to help.
“We’ve moved the building to the Moose Jaw Events Centre and the Moose Jaw Curling Centre,” explained city manager Jim Puffalt during council on August 8. “Those were the names that have been taken off the building, and inside the building we are moving a lot of the digital and some of the signage on the windows to the new names.
“Again, we know this is temporary as we work towards having a new naming rights partner for both of these facilities.”
The curling facility had been the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre, but that partnership has also expired.
A new events centre website with the hopefully-temporary name and logo is up and running at www.mjec.ca.
City Councillor Crystal Froese congratulated city administration on the interim logo for the Events Centre, calling it “quite attractive” — a plus for residents. Froese asked Puffalt for his best estimate of when a naming partner might be found.
“I think within the next couple of months,” Puffalt said. “As you know, when we talked to council in June we wanted to work over the summer to see if we can make any headway with a certain party. And then we’ll be able to come back to council early in the fall and have a fruitful discussion.”
Puffalt also reminded council that PSG is standing by in case other efforts are unsuccessful. He added that city administration would like to get the PSG contract back in front of council as soon as possible.
“And yes,” he said, “we do like the logo as well. The roofline is attractive, and it uses our colours, which are great.”
Councillor Heather Eby pressed the question of the new naming rights group. She wanted details from Puffalt on what was actually happening.
“We have met the group of people that were going to give us a hand,” Puffalt confirmed. “We’re going to reach out to the other parties to see if they can organize meetings. Right now we’re using our existing documentation (for the process).”
Councillor Doug Blanc wanted assurance that the city would not yet spend money for new signage. City administration had recommended that council approve $50,000 to temporarily rebrand the Events Centre and curling facility, but council declined because it would be a short-term expense and a new partner could potentially be found quickly.
The next meeting of city council is August 22.
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