Will big donors be willing to help build an events center at the Eagle County fairgrounds?

This story has been corrected to reflect that the Eagle County Fairgrounds as a facility only recovers roughly 25% of its operating costs.

The impending rebuild of Vail’s Dobson Ice Arena has lent new urgency to the prospect of a potential events center at the Eagle County Fairgrounds. Meanwhile, other projects at the fairgrounds are also moving forward.

The Eagle County Board of Commissioners on Monday heard a report from both the county’s facilities team and professional fundraiser Katie Santambrogio about a pair of separate, but linked projects at the fairgrounds.

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First up was facilities manager Jan Miller, who updated the commissioners about the prospect of finding naming rights partners for the existing exhibit hall, grandstands and Eagle River Center. Miller said she’s been working with a consultant on the first phase of naming rights for those facilities.

Part of the process is evaluating just what those naming rights are worth, and where sponsors’ names would go, both at the fairgrounds entrance and on the buildings themselves as well as wayfinding signs around the facility.

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Miller said the Eagle County Fairgrounds currently recovers only about 25% of its operating costs. A six-figure naming rights deal could ease the county’s contribution to the facility’s operations.

The potential for an events center is far more complex and expensive.

The idea of an events center — with an ice surface, several hundred seats of grandstand seating and enough room for breakout sessions for conferences and other events, was first proposed in a 2022 master plan. The idea of that facility was shelved due to cost — upwards of $30 million before construction costs started rapidly escalating.

But at a meeting in December, county facilities director Jesse Meryhew told the commissioners about “sprung structures,” which could provide a building similar in size to the one envisioned in the master plan, but at a significantly lower cost. That building is still expensive, though.

Even with a $5 million pledge from the county, a $1 million pledge from Mountain Recreation, which would manage the facility in the winter and other contributions, getting from idea to reality still requires roughly another $15 million.

Santambrogio, a consultant who’s worked on numerous local fundraising projects including the Vail Interfaith Chapel, is working with local hockey parents looking for indoor skating facilities to replace Dobson while it’s being rebuilt.

Santambrogio said she’s been working with potential donors for the events center on a capital campaign on potential sponsorships and naming rights. She said she’s been talking with four potential donors about “seven-figure” gifts. And, she added, those gifts won’t be in the “low seven figures.”

Santambrogio assured the commissioners that the facility, if built, will remain the county’s building, and will continue to be a multi-purpose facility, with skating reserved for the months between roughly October and April.

Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry asked if the county could create a nonprofit foundation for donations to the project.

That might help, Santambrogio said, adding that currently a separate account has been established via Vail Mountaineer Hockey. A county foundation could be an easier way to direct money toward the project, she said.

And, Meryhew added, there’s also a perception that only a hockey facility is being built. “That’s not the case,” he said.

County Manager Jeff Shroll asked if people are willing to sponsor a facility knowing it’s a 12-month event center dedicated to other purposes, even as the fundraising capitalizes on motivation from the valley’s hockey community.

Even with unanswered questions at the moment, Shroll said “I’m willing to give this a college try — I don’t want to give up on it.”