Ready for a New Name? Xcel Energy Center Has About a Year Left

I know it was only since the year 2000, but I can't think of a time when it wasn't the Xcel Energy Center.  I looked to see wha the previous name was, and it was just the St. Paul Civic Center.

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Anyway, after 25 years, the Xcel Energy Center will no longer be that...it will be something else. As to what that "something else" is - we don't know yet.

Xcel Energy has paid about $3 Million per year for the last 25 years to have the naming rights to the building and the Minnesota Wild's title sponsor. From Sports Writer Charlie Walters through Bring Me the News:

"The arena has had Xcel Energy, worth about $3 million per year over 25 years for the Wild, as its title sponsor," Walters wrote in his Sunday column. "One company is said to already have made an offer to the Wild, which operates the arena, and a handful of other firms are seriously interested.”

This was reported this past June.  And we still do not know who, or it just hasn't been announced, the new naming sponsor will be.

It's not like it's cheap, but might be completely worth it for a company to have the naming rights.  Think of all the branding changes that will have to happen once the change comes into play.  It's a lot of work to make a change like this.  Also - how long do you think it will take before people stop calling it the Xcel?  My guess is a long time.  We'll see.  We have until the end of the Wild's 24-25 season before the change will come into play.