County Councilman Proposes Selling Pittsburgh Airport Naming Rights

Nov. 15--Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Pittsburgh-Heinz International Airport.

Sound strange? It is. No international airport in the country has adopted a corporate name.

Allegheny County Councilman Ed Kress wants Pittsburgh to be the first. He's introducing a bill at tonight's council meeting that calls on the county to sell the airport's name to the highest bidder, starting at no less than $5 million annually over a 10-year period.

"It's a great advertising location," said Mr. Kress, R-Shaler.

He may be right. About 14 million people use the airport every year, according to JoAnn Jenny, a spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

Ms. Jenny didn't offer any comment on the councilman's bill.

In June, Mr. Kress proposed creating a committee that would look at raising new revenue by selling naming rights for county property. Council approved his idea, but, so far, the committee has met only once.

Mr. Kress, who lost his council seat in last week's election, decided to focus on one area, the airport, before having to step down at the end of the year.

"There's no precedent for this," said Pam Shepherd, a spokeswoman for Airports Council International-North America.

Councilman Rich Nerone, D-Brookline, chairman of the naming rights committee, said council may not have the legal authority to change the airport's name. His committee will look at the issue.

But Mr. Nerone said he's working on a list of other county properties that might attract corporate sponsors, including bridges.

Mr. Kress has approached a Connecticut-based advertising firm, Octagon, about promoting the airport. The firm helped New York City sign a $166 million deal making Snapple the city's official drink.

"We'd be happy to look at it," Pat Shannon, a senior vice president at Octagon, said of Mr. Kress' proposal.

Ms. Shepherd said county officials likely would not be able to change the airport's code, PIT, which the Federal Aviation Administration uses for identification.