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Cape Coral explores selling naming rights and sponsorships for parks and facilities to raise revenue
Summary
City staff and outside consultants presented a valuation and sales roadmap for naming rights and category sponsorships across Cape Coral parks and venues; council gave general support and asked staff and the consultant to continue with a sales campaign plan, leaving final approval and contract terms to future council action.
The City of Cape Coral on May 28 heard a presentation from Parks & Recreation staff and a private consulting firm, the Superlative Group, outlining the results of a preliminary inventory and valuation of park assets that could be packaged for corporate naming rights and sponsorships.
Parks & Recreation Director Joe Petrella introduced consultants Sean Gallagher and Ethan Richards of Superlative, who said they had completed a phase-one valuation to estimate fair-market ranges for naming rights and sponsorship packages across the city's park assets and events. The firm's methodology combined estimated audience impressions with industry-standard media CPM rates and local exposure factors to arrive at a market-based valuation for candidate assets.
Consultants said the phase-one report intentionally left out detailed price quotations in this public forum to avoid undermining sales outreach; they offered to share proprietary valuation materials with councilmembers and staff in private briefings. The firm described a two-stage process that would move from valuation (completed) to a phase-two sales campaign (18-month market launch) that mixes longer-term naming-rights agreements with category-level partnerships and event sponsorships.
Examples and approach: Superlative highlighted a recent comparable of a municipal waterfront amphitheater where a naming-rights partner agreed to a multiyear, multimillion-dollar term. The consultants recommended the city prioritize high-value assets and then assemble packages that weave benefits through the parks system, rather than try to sell naming rights to every small neighborhood park.
Council response and direction: Councilmembers expressed general support for exploring sponsorship revenue and asked staff to proceed with a controlled sales campaign. Staff said any completed deals would return to council for final approval of terms. "I didn't hear any opposition," the mayor observed, and staff confirmed the intent to move forward with a sales strategy that would be presented to council when agreement terms were ready.
Staff noted the naming-rights work could dovetail with other efforts to finance tourism-related programming, but councilmembers emphasized the need to match sponsors to appropriate assets and to preserve residents' sense of place. Consultants said they would build a prospect list, prepare tailored outreach and draft term sheets and agreements for negotiation. The city would decide whether to accept each prospective partner and to approve final contract language.
Ending: City staff and the consultant will proceed with a phase-two sales campaign; council will review any proposed contracts and retains final approval authority.
