TCO Sports Garden

The first step in the multifaceted process was to, of course, gain a better understanding of what the Vadnais Sports Center Dome had to offer for local partners. After all, this was more than just a sports facility, but a home away from home for youth sports families, friends, and enthusiasts alike. And while the turf dome was the only piece of the facility destroyed in the April 2018 snowstorm, its collapse created a void in the community, leaving local youth sports teams without a place to play and train. That said, it became our initial focus to shake hands with the organization’s project leaders, delve deeper into their community ties, and uncover valuable assets that could be deemed beneficial to potential naming rights partners. From our time spent with these leaders, we were able to paint a better picture of Vadnais Heights’ story, value, and demographics—who they served, how many they served, as well as their goals for the present and future. This preliminary “meet-and-greet” gave us the foundation and insights needed to develop the next step of our game plan: Outreach.

After digesting the information provided by Vadnais Heights’ project leaders, Front Burner Sports took to the workbench—developing an aggressive outbound strategy that would leave no stone unturned in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Given the sheer amount of media and marketing value recognized during the initial meet-and-greet, we continued with our plan which involved selling the naming rights to the new facility (whose proceeds would go toward building and operating a more permanent field house structure). We then reconnected with our friends over at Vadnais Heights to present our blanketed approach and strategy, of which was approved and accepted with open arms.

Once given the go-ahead from the project leaders at Vadnais Heights, Front Burner Sports worked around the clock researching and drawing up an extensive list of potential naming rights partners across the entire Twin Cities business community. Through this fine-toothed comb approach, we started making headway—landing ourselves in front of several renowned business leaders in the local area—and after weeks of daily appointments, Front Burner Sports finally uncovered the community champion they were seeking, beginning the naming rights contract negotiations with Twin Cities Orthopedics (TCO).

The stars were aligning as Front Burner Sports began facilitating contract negotiations between Ramsey County and their newly found friends at Twin Cities Orthopedics. Within the margins of the final contract included $1.95 million to be paid to Ramsey County over a 15 year period, with TCO gaining rights for usage of a 5,500 sq. ft. office space within the newly constructed sports facility. The community void was finally repaved with the Vadnais Heights Sports Center going on to become the TCO Sports Garden. The rest was history.