City of Kent Sells Naming Rights To Amiga

[redfox]

If this is for real, it could be really good exposure.


---
redfox
Coupons anyone?

[jahc]

I dont understand why people dont see this as a positive news item.. (I dont want to offend anyone in saying so though).

Having a stadium named after your product/company is a pretty standard form of advertising. Dont you guys watch any sport?? even when my brother was playing under 16 inline hockey, their rink was named after a sponsor.

They exagerate in the "about Amiga" section of their press releases, but thats what you do in a PR.

Are you guys upset at Amiga advertising their name when they dont yet have any major products? I think I can see where you're coming from if thats the case. The stadium is a year away from completion if I read correctly, so that gives them time to get a product to market..

If we just ignore that this has anything to do with Amiga Inc, dont you think the following is quite cool??

The facility will have the capacity to bring technologic advancements that will alter the fan experience by dramatically enhancing the interaction between a visitor and the sport or event. For example the "Amiga Center at Kent" will have the technology in place allowing event-goers to watch instant replays on a handheld device and to order, pay for and have food delivered using only a cell phone. If this technology is implemented, Thunderbirds' fans will be able to enjoy a closer connection with the game and its players by accessing real-time statistical updates and engaging in digital interactions with players. In addition, Amiga technology could streamline ticket sales for all "Amiga Center at Kent" events.

Btw, the site looks fine to me too. I dont understand people that are overly critical of web sites.

P.S. I'm not trying to attack anyone, just trying to see where you're coming from.

[AmigaHeretic]

jahc wrote:
Are you guys upset at Amiga advertising their name when they dont yet have any major products? I think I can see where you're coming from if thats the case. The stadium is a year away from completion if I read correctly, so that gives them time to get a product to market..

"City of Kent Sells Multi-Million Dollar Naming Rights for Proposed
Events Center to Global Tech Company Amiga"

Can you SELL naming rights to something that is ONLY PROPOSED?

Jahc, I myself think and maybe may others that have posted, that this is just another misinformation campaign by Amiga Inc.

This is possibly one of a few things:

1. Either this is just totaly false...

2. Amiga conned these people and said "Hey, if you "Do" build this "Proposed" building we will pay "Millions" for the name which of course they won't as they don't even have money to pay a decent web designer a few hundred dollars.

3. They lied just about the "Multi-Million Dollar" part and "The Stadium" is actually the size of a 2 bedroom house.


@jahc
They lied about EVERYTHING else in the press release why would you believe any of this?  
Do you believe Amiga Inc is the "world’s premier provider of multi-media enabling technologies"?

[hooligan]

@Jahc

Still all this seems very strange. With several million dollars they could have bought some advertisementspace at some Formula-1 car, which IMO, would have been a way better way to market your company.

[alx]

Well the press release has gone live on the Seattle Thunderbirds site now, so it's looking less like a late April fool's.  Quite how A inc have the money (or think they'll have the money) to burn on this sort of thing is quite something else though, and I can think of several better uses for it.

Bizzare... utterly bizarre  :crazy:

[Fransexy_]

alx wrote:
Well the press release has gone live on the Seattle Thunderbirds site now, so it's looking less like a late April fool's.  Quite how A inc have the money (or think they'll have the money) to burn on this sort of thing is quite something else though, and I can think of several better uses for it.

Bizzare... utterly bizarre  :crazy:

It´s quite obvious to me.The investors have Amiga inc only for Money laundering

[cv643d]

The problem with the new site (and the old site) is that they are not professional looking.

There are parts of the site that tells the story it is an amateur who constructed it.

Compare Genesi sites with Amigas site and you will see the difference between a professional company site and a homemade site.

[redrumloa]

jahc wrote:
P.S. I'm not trying to attack anyone, just trying to see where you're coming from.

You don't sound like you are attacking anyone and you make some good points. I just happen to agree with Tigger, this deal may have cost millions. Why not use that money to develop a product? Pay off old debt to restore credibility in their tiny market? People have reasons to be cynical IMHO.

Amiga Inc have not had a real product for sale ever in their existence. Not the current group and not under Gateway2000 before them. You have to go back to pre Commodore bankruptcy to see a real product, well over a decade ago. Do they have a real product under development now? Not that anyone can see. The closest thing to a real product is OS4, and ownership of that appears to be stuck in legal quicksand with the appearance of Amiga inc being content to bury it.

The website? Meh, looks cheesy to my untrained eye but i probably wouldn't have said anything if you had not brought it up.

So are some overly critical? That depends on an individual point of view. Speaking for myself, I don't think so. I haven't seen a single move by AI that have made sense in many years. I was a long time blind blond cheerleader and now looking back I wonder my sanity in believing the tripe being fed to us. I think the time is probably now long past for the Amiga to make a comeback. Why am I here? Partially morbid curiosity, partially a small fading interest in retro Amiga computing and the fact I have made friends over the years here.

Maybe that makes me a grumpy old fart, but I really don't care
;-)

[humppa]

I just happen to agree with Tigger, this deal may have cost millions.

Not according to these news (Seattle Times, April 17, 2007):

"Kent city officials announced today that Amiga, a New York-based global technology company, would sponsor Kent's proposed $67 million events center, all but ensuring the project would move forward.

If the City Council approves it, the 6,025-seat Amiga Center at Kent would become the new home for the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team and other "family friendly" entertainment, from holiday bazaars to monster truck shows.

City officials said Amiga would pay more than $300,000 a year for the naming rights, but the deal has not yet been finalized. Amiga said it would use the events center as a kind of testing ground for its technology, offering everything from cellphone-based orders of hot dogs to kiosks with its newest games.

In these last days of the legislative session, Kent is also hoping to get about $25 million in state funding for the project. The city would cover the rest of the cost.

The 150,000-square-foot events center would stand in the heart of downtown, within walking distance of Kent Station, one of the city's big attractions. A city-commissioned study said it would generate an estimated $50 million in state sales tax over the next 30 years.

The city has already spent about $3 million in exploratory studies and preliminary design for the events center, which could open as early as fall 2008. If the state funding comes through, council members are expected to approve the project in a May vote."

So it seems the deal hasn't even been finalized yet. The whole project still needs approval. But "more than $300,000 a year" isn't peanuts either. Especially for a company that doesn't seems to have any money for paying their employees.

[hooligan]

humppa wrote:
But "more than $300,000 a year" isn't peanuts either.

Actually it is.

Especially for a company that doesn't seems to have any money for paying their employees.

This I agree to.

[BigBenAussie]

So Amiga Inc are going to pay $300,000 a year for:

1. Naming rights for the Stadium.
2. Testing their technology in the field for a particular market.

Technology that will allow people to buy hotdogs, look at stats and talk to players in the game(on the bench I suppose).

I imagine that they would hope to sell this technology to other stadiums and that this will give them a foothold in that market.

The money they make from each hotdog sale and other services, may go a long way to offsetting the $300 grand. We are not privvy to other side deals that would be going on.

300 Grand only allows you to pay maybe 6 or so high tech employees a year in the US, so they wouldn't gain much if they spent it on development at home. I imagine they'll be keeping Amiga India busy with the content.

Maybe it's not such a ludicrous idea afterall. It opens up possibilities for sales to other stadiums and they'll be charging for a service that could make them a profit some time soon.

Ok. Going back to my happy place now.

[humppa]

hooligan wrote:

humppa wrote:
But "more than $300,000 a year" isn't peanuts either.

Actually it is.

For the "world’s premier provider of multi-media enabling technologies" and the "third most recognized brand in Europe" it _IS_ peanuts indeed.  :-P

[Tigger]

humppa wrote:

I just happen to agree with Tigger, this deal may have cost millions.

So it seems the deal hasn't even been finalized yet. The whole project still needs approval. But "more than $300,000 a year" isn't peanuts either. Especially for a company that doesn't seems to have any money for paying their employees.

One of the original posts had it pegged at $6M investment, I dont know if that was a 20 year contract (at 300K) or some original investment plus the 300K a year.   The stadium hasnt been approved yet, in fact the reason the press release yo-yoed yesterday is that it was found before the 1:30 PST press conference where it was announced.  Almost immediately after that the new site came up with the press release.   However in the next week or so the state legislature should decide about the money and if they fund there portion, Amiga Center in Kent is probably going to be a reality.  And Kent will make lots of money when the pilgrims flock in on the Amiga Holy days, (McEwens birthday, Mitchie's birthday, Jay's Birthday, Amigas birthday, Sheep Day, etc).
    -Tig

[Ral-Clan]

300 Grand only allows you to pay maybe 6 or so high tech employees a year in the US, so they wouldn't gain much if they spent it on development at home. I imagine they'll be keeping Amiga India busy with the content.

The original Amiga prototype Lorraine was only developed by five or six people.

OS3.5 & 3.9 was probably not developed by more than this many full-time programmers (I'm not including volunteer beta-testers).

Commodore always had small R&D teams in the 1980s and they got a lot done.

[Ral-Clan]

redfox wrote:
If this is for real, it could be really good exposure.

Exposure for WHAT?  So what if the visiting ublic sees the AMIGA name in ten foot high letters on the Stadium?  There are NO products an actual stadium-going consumer can buy.  What's the point of getting exposure if you have NOTHING to sell?

And for the record, I too think the new web-site is "passable" but a bit amateurish looking.  It seems to me this site was just quickly popped up because the (one) folk at Amiga Inc. knew these press released would mean that someone is going to actually be checking out the company's homepage.

And isn't it a little bizarre that Amiga Anywhere (TM) products are now supposedly available for sale on a minor league hockey team's website? (http://www.amiga.com/sales/).

[TheMagicM]

I dont believe it until I read that its a done deal, "we're breaking the ground now" and there are pics of it w/AI's name on it.  Then I still wouldnt care.. I just hope the end of AI is near.