Selling beach naming rights on Volusia County council agenda

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - Volusia County leaders will once again talk about possibly selling naming rights to beach approaches. 

"A lot of tourists, a lot of locals go through those beach approaches," said county chair Jeff Brower, in a Zoom interview with FOX 35 on Monday. 

Brower brought up the idea in the spring but ultimately council members agreed to hold off until now for a deeper discussion, citing staff workload and the ongoing pandemic.

Tuesday’s presentation includes a list of other possibilities that could also be part of the program like parks, trails and facilities such as the Ocean Center and Marine Science Center.

"All of those things are potential revenue sources through naming rights," Brower said.

Staff research in the presentation shows the county has done similar sponsorships before. In 2007, the county gave Coke "exclusive pouring rights."

The presentation states it earned the county $878,000 plus more than half a million in products and advertising over a five-year period.

Brower said interest is already starting to roll in.

"I’ve already been contacted by local companies that are interested in naming rights, specifically for beach approaches because that was something a lot of people hadn’t thought about," he said.

On Tuesday, staff will ask the council for direction on if they would hire an outside firm to solicit sponsorships or do the work in-house.