Friday Question of the Day – Is Selling Naming Rights to Metro Stations a Good Idea?

Photo by PoPville flickr user Sandra Sitar

It’s long been known that metro’s budget is facing tough times. As I mentioned yesterday, they even seem to be looking the other way on questionable ads. A reader writes:

“[From U Street Metro] The first sign you see on your way in is Metro’s “this is not a diner” anti-eating/drinking campaign. The second one you see is this one, essentially telling people to bring their Green Mountain coffee on Metro.”

On Thursday TBD reported:

“Metro CFO Carol Kissal said this morning that the agency is considering selling to corporations the naming rights to Metro stations. She said the move could bring in up to $2 million to the cash-strapped agency.”

This almost sounds like a joke but if it’s actually being considered – I gotta ask – do you think it’s a good idea?

Also who do you think would have the deep pockets to purchase a name? Well there are 86 stations so that would come to roughly $23,000 for a metro station. And how would it work – would it be something like, “next stop Georgia Ave/Petworth” sponsored by The House? Next stop “Columbia Heights sponsored by Ellwood Thompson’s Target”?