Trail Blazers Soliciting Arena Sponsor

The Portland Trail Blazers are seeking a local corporate sponsor to buy long-term naming rights to the team’s Rose Garden arena.

The National Basketball Association team revealed on Wednesday that it has initiated conversations about the naming rights with several Portland-area companies. The Trail Blazers and the Rose Garden are both affiliates of Vulcan, Inc., which is owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The Trail Blazers indicated they wanted to seal a deal in time for the 2008-09 season.

“The goal is to once again find a partner whose core values match our own,” said Tod Leiwecke, Vulcan Sports and Entertainment CEO, in a statement. Leiwecke played a key role in negotiating the 15-year deal for the Seattle Seahawks’ Qwest Field.

This is the first time the Portland franchise has sought a naming rights deal for the Rose Garden, which opened in 1995.

Most of the NBA’s 30 teams currently have arena rights deals in what has become a high-stakes corporate name game with a wide price range.

The champion San Antonio Spurs have a 20-year deal with San Antonio-based SBC for $42 million. Earlier this year, the New Jersey Nets negotiated a 20-year pact for naming rights to their planned Brooklyn arena with Barclays Bank for a reported $400 million.