WASHINGTON — Imagine if Metro Center turned into Xfinity Center. Or if L’Enfant Plaza turned into Pepco Plaza.
Metro Center and L'Enfant are among Metro’s busiest stations that could be renamed for corporate sponsors if the transit agency gets their way.
"It’s something the board is wrestling with right now, how far they want to go in that area," Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said.
Metro needs to find $190 million in savings or new revenue in its just-proposed annual budget. Metro’s package includes fare increases, but also selling the naming rights of stations.
"I think there’s a way you can do these things," Wiedefeld said.
Metro points to the success of top-dollar digital advertising at stations like Gallery Place, and said renaming an entire station could bring in more than a million dollars per station during a time when the agency is considering raising some fares.
Metro staff first proposed the idea back in 2017. They pointed to other transit systems such as New York’s Subway, which renamed Atlantic Avenue station to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center. The deal, Metro said, was worth $4 million over twenty years.
In 2017 documents, Metro staffers said that Gallery Place, Navy Yard-Ballpark, Metro Center and L’Enfant Plaza had the greatest potential for renaming "due to location, proximity to venues and ridership density."
"I think it’s coming back because we’re under tremendous financial stress, constantly," Wiedefeld said.
Metro’s board would also need to change the transit agency’s policy on station naming rights, which is currently forbidden. Public hearings about Metro’s proposed budget could begin next month. Any changes would go into effect in July.