Westhills Stadium to be Renamed Starlight Stadium with $500K Sponsorship Deal
An interesting development in the Victoria sports scene. Starlight Investments, out of Toronto, will pay $500K over 5 years to get naming rights to Westhills Stadium. Langford gets 15% of that but the article in the Times Colonist doesn’t specify where the other 85% goes. The article goes onto explain that the deal is big, “for Langford and for Pacific FC”. We’re assuming the bulk of the money is a Pacific FC sponsorship. We’ve reached out to Rugby Canada to see if they benefit at all from the renaming, they are mentioned in the article as one of the main tenants of the stadium along with Pacific FC and the Westshore Rebels football team.
Who is Starlight Investments? According to their website, “Starlight Investments is a privately held Toronto-based, full service, multi-family and commercial real estate investment and asset management company driven by an experienced team of over 300 professionals. The company currently manages over $20.0 billion of direct real estate as well as real estate investment securities”. According to the website, Landlords of Toronto, “Starlight is a privately-held real estate investment and asset management company and is currently one of the biggest landlords in Canada. Due to significant building acquisitions and rapid expansion, Starlight will be the largest landlord in Canada by the end of 2020 with nearly 60,000 apartment suites.”
Even though they are Toronto based they have started moving out west and made the news in December 2019 with two apartment building acquisitions in Vancouver worth $43.5M.
The TC article quotes the Pacific FC VP of Operations, “This spring we unveil the newly named stadium alongside Starlight, who are fans of both soccer and Langford.” The CEO of the company is Daniel Drimmer. According to Landlords of Toronto, Drimmer represents the 3rd generation of a family involved in real estate investment originating in Germany, which may explain the enthusiasm for soccer. The Starlight media release on the sponsorship states, “Our partnership with Pacific F.C. and the City of Langford to enhance this important community facility demonstrates Starlights commitment to the communities located on Vancouver Island and in the Province of British Columbia. We look forward to participating in the growth of the Canadian Premier League and wish Pacific F.C. great success, (Daniel Drimmer, Starlights President and Chief Executive Officer)
How this impacts rugby and Rugby Canada at the facility remains to be seen.
Westhills Stadium to be renamed Starlight Stadium in $500,000 sponsorship deal
by Cleve Dheensaw / Times Colonist
A name change is coming to one of the Islands largest venues with Westhills Stadium in Langford becoming Starlight Stadium. Toronto-based Starlight Investments will pay more than $500,000 for the naming rights over five years in what Mayor Stew Young describes as the largest corporate sponsorship in Langford history.
This is a big deal, for Langford and for Pacific FC, said Young. This will really help out the club [financially] during the pandemic.
Young did not have the sharing breakdown details at hand Saturday, but said Langford will get about 15 per cent of the naming-rights proceeds.
The stadium is home to Pacific FC of the pro soccer Canadian Premier League, the Tokyo Olympics-bound Canadian mens and womens rugby sevens teams and the Westshore Rebels of the B.C. Football Conference.
It has also been looked at as a medium-sized venue for the Canadian national mens soccer team for games against smaller CONCACAF nations in 2022 World Cup qualifying that dont require stadiums the size of B.C. Place or BMO Field in Toronto.
Two scheduled Canada games against Trinidad and Tobago at Westhills Stadium were cancelled last year due to the pandemic.
The facility is also home to the annual Canada Sevens womens rugby tournament on the World Series circuit.
Starlight Investments is described on its website as a company focused on North American multi-family and Canadian commercial real estate.
Young and PFC are both happy to have it on board. Its a big company that has come into Langford for development and is proving to be a good community partner with this naming-rights deal, said Young.
Other sporting-venue name changes on the Island have included the former Bear Mountain Arena in Colwood, home to the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League and Victoria Shamrocks of the Western Lacrosse Association, now known as The Q Centre.
The Cowichan Valley Capitals and Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the BCHL play at Island Savings Centre and Weyerhaeuser Arena, respectively.
Royal Athletic Park is re-labelled Wilsons Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park each summer for the Victoria HarbourCats West Coast League baseball season.
Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, home to the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League, has retained that dual corporate and Second World War-commemoration memorial name since opening in 2005 as a replacement for the old Memorial Arena. The original agreement for the naming rights was for $1.25 million over 10 years.
That was extended in 2014 for another 10 years, running through 2024 for a reported $900,000. The share the City of Victoria receives from the naming rights went up under the current deal. Under the old arrangement, the city received $70,000 over 10 years. Under the current contract, the city gets $90,000 over 10 years.
The renaming is on the agenda for Langfords council meeting Monday.
We are thrilled to be working with Starlight Investments as a future partner at our stadium, said Brad Norris-Jones, vice president of operations for Pacific FC, in a statement.
This spring we unveil the newly named stadium alongside Starlight, who are fans of both soccer and Langford.
Pacific FC is among five of eight teams in the CPL, Canadas domestic pro soccer league, which is entering its third season, and plays in corporately sponsored stadiums.
The others are Cavalry FC at ATCO Field at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Valour FC at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, Atletico Ottawa at TD Place Stadium and Forge FC at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton. The other three CPL venues have civic or institutional names FC Edmonton plays at Clarke Stadium, York United at York University Lions Stadium and HFX at the historic Wanderers Grounds in Halifax.