Regina's Ipsco Place changes name again

Regina's exhibition grounds, formerly Ipsco Place,has been renamedEvraz Place.

Steelmaker Ipsco had attached its name to the city-owned park once known as Regina Exhibition Park under an agreement signed in 2006.

But the company has since been purchased by another company and isnow known as Evraz Regina Steel.

The name changefor theexhibition groundswas expected, according to Mark Allan,CEO of the city-owned facility that's home to Regina Pats hockey games, rock concerts, agricultural exhibitions and the annual fair known as Buffalo Days.

"When names change hands,[sponsors] want to continue to have their new name associated with that,"Allan saidat a news conference Wednesday."We acknowledge that it may be a little bit confusing for the public."

Although the Ipsco naming agreement was originally valued at $2.5 million, Evraz has agreed to increase that to $3 million.

Some of the extra money will be spent on new signs and some will be spent on renovations to the facility.

Names change all the time and people will get used to the new name, said Greg Maindonald, the vice-president and general manager of Evraz Regina Steel.

"I've been away for10 years," Maindonald said. "I don't know who Mosaic is and who's Viterra, so it happens every day.It's just part of change. It's natural in the business world."

Maindonald was referring to new corporate identities for the city's football stadium, which adopted the name of a local fertilizer company, Mosaic, and the new name of the grain company Viterra.

He added Evraz likes to support sports and recreation and said it is also valuable advertising when international events are staged at the park.

"It's a huge benefit for the entire community, getting people to come from all over the world [for] international events," Maindonald said.

"The other big thing, of course, is our name is part of it. So it's no secret that that's great advertising for us. It's a branding exercise for us."

As for the Evraz name, company officials said it'sa contraction of the Russian words for Europe and Asia, and references the company's Russian roots.