It’s finally official: In downtown St. Paul, the Xcel Energy Center is losing the name Xcel Energy as the utility’s $3 million-per-year naming rights agreement dries up this summer after a 25-year run.

The Minneapolis-based company announced Tuesday that it will continue to be involved in the home of the Minnesota Wild through online and in-arena advertising, as well as grants to youth and high school hockey organizations, but the “X” will have to soldier on without Xcel in the title for the first time since its construction in 2000.

Other corporate sponsors

As Wild owner Craig Leipold and city officials continue to pitch what they hope will be a $769 million reinvention of the entire arena, concert and convention center facility, will a corporate sponsor step up to buy naming rights and help usher the multi-purpose arena into the future?

You betcha.

The Twin Cities is home to 17 Fortune 500 companies and others, like Securian, on the border of making the list, a relatively strong showing per capita for a Midwestern metro. That leaves the door open to a number of potential corporate partners interested in making their name synonymous with “The State of Hockey.”

Pioneer Press sports columnist Charley Walters reported last year that Securian and Royal Bank of Canada had done more than just kick the tires on a potential naming rights agreement, “and a handful of other firms are seriously interested.”

Xcel Energy has been the title sponsor for the X under an $80 million agreement, worth about $3 million per year for the past 25 years. The next agreement could, according to Walters, total as much as $10 million per year for the next 25 years.

If the Wild have a corporate ally in mind, they were playing coy on Tuesday, refusing to divulge specifics beyond a written announcement that the team “expects to announce a new arena naming rights partner before the start of the 2025-26 NHL season.”

A spokesman for the Wild, which manages the arena and convention center on behalf of the city, said they would have no further comment.

Xcel to remain long-term partner

While dropping out of the arena title, Xcel Energy will remain involved as a long-term partner, according to a joint announcement from the team and the energy company, which plans to launch an initiative dubbed “Community Power Play” to expand access to the sport for children and families throughout the state.

The program will provide grants to youth and high school hockey organizations, with a focus on financial assistance for young athletes, the purchase of equipment and ice time, and investments in and improvement of community-based rinks and facilities open to all residents.

Bob Frenzel, Xcel Energy chairman, president and chief executive officer, released a written statement on Tuesday noting that “25 years ago, the Minnesota Wild and Xcel Energy were new brands in the region. Today, these two brands have become embedded in our community and our culture.”

“This new chapter with the Wild extends our commitment to the region and will serve to expand access to the sport of hockey so that more young girls and boys across the state can access and more fully engage in this wonderful sport,” he said.

Plans for $769M in improvements

Alongside a new name, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Leipold, the team owner, hope to reinvent the arena itself, as well as the adjoining RiverCentre Convention Center and Roy Wilkins Auditorium.

The two appeared shoulder to shoulder in committee hearings before House and Senate lawmakers last month, pitching plans for $769 million in improvements.

Those improvements will rely on nearly $400 million in state appropriations bonds, as well as funding from the team, the city, Ramsey County and corporate sponsors.

Among the improvements, Leipold told lawmakers the Xcel renovation will create new types of seating areas more in line with modern demand, including low-cost, lounge-style community viewing rooms.

The mayor has released conceptual renderings and talked up plans of better connecting the arena to Rice Park and the Landmark Center with more public-facing amenities, such as exterior coffee shops. Under the title “Project Wow,” the Wild have attempted to lure the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame from Eveleth, Minn., to downtown St. Paul.

The arena and overall convention center campus, according to the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, together draw nearly 2 million visitors to some 400 annual events. Those visits generate nearly $500 million in economic impact between spending, state and local sales tax, hotel stays and more.

The renovations could boost that spending by another $110 million, according to the chamber.