Spokane Tribe sponsors Spokane Convention Center in $2.6 million contract

For the first time since it opened, the Spokane Convention Center will have a sponsor, and it’s as local is it possibly could be.

Starting on Sept. 1, it will be called the Spokane Convention Center Presented by the Spokane Tribe of Indians.

The Spokane Public Facilities District, which owns and operates the convention center signed a 10-year sponsorship for the center and the exhibit hall, which will be renamed the Spokane Tribe of Indians exhibit hall. The sponsorship will cost the tribe $2.65 million in total over the decade. The agreement, announced Wednesday, has four 5% increases and starts at $250,000 a year.

Public Facility District CEO Stephanie Curran said the numbers were calculated from what the center is worth. The money the tribe pays to PFD will go into keeping the center updated.

“Hopefully, it’s a good partnership for them and this name stays forever,” Curran said. “To have them be acknowledged is very important.”

Convention centers are typically more difficult to get naming rights deals because there are no ticket sales or guaranteed exposure that an arena or performing arts center has, Curran said. The tribe was interested in the sponsorship because the land is significant to its descendants.

“We like to get our name established. This is our ancestral homeland,” said Greg Abrahamson, chairman of the Spokane Tribal Business Council, said in an interview.

The Spokane River, which flows alongside the convention center, is essential to the Spokane Tribe. Before dams stopped the passage of salmon, people in the tribe would gather at Spokane Falls to fish.

“The river is so prevalent to our people,” Abrahamson said.

The convention center has more than 300,000 square feet of space including three ballrooms and a 120,000 square foot exhibit hall. The first section of the convention center was built as the Washington State Pavilion for Expo ’74. After an expansion in 1989, it was called the Spokane Convention Center and International Agricultural Trade Center. But the second half of that name was dropped just before the opening of another expansion in 2006.

“This partnership is a powerful reflection of our enduring connection to this land since time immemorial and our commitment to supporting the cultural, economic, and communal vitality of the region,” Abrahamson said in a news release. “We look forward to welcoming visitors from near and far to a space that celebrates collaboration, history, and the future we are building together.”