Casper Events Center Gets Ford Sponsorship and a New Name

Informally, it forever will be known as the "Pizza Hut on the Hill."

Formally, it no longer will be known the Casper Events Center.

"It would be known as the Ford Wyoming Center, is what the Ford dealerships in Wyoming would like to name it," Parks and Recreation Director Tim Cortez told the Casper City Council on Tuesday.

Spectra, which manages the city-owned events center, wanted the city to find a sponsor to name the building to offset the subsidy Casper pays to operate the venue.

The city tried hard to find a sponsor to name the building, Cortez said. "After two years of putting out proposals, a the group of Ford dealerships in Wyoming found somebody to step up and give it a shot."

The proposal needs the council's approval for the proposal to become final, he said during the pre-meeting before the council's regular meeting.

The contract is for five years. The contributions start at $75,000 this year, and increase over the life of the contract to $88,000 in 2026, Cortez said.

Gauging the market value for naming rights isn't easy, and the city and Spectra would have like to have received more, he said. "But at the end of the day we have it, and we'd like to set the market at this point."

The investment is totally from the group of Ford dealerships in the state, and they will pay for the signage, the logos on the Ford Wyoming Center's uniforms and other items, Cortez said.