For more than a year, a thousand-foot ribbon of light has greeted people along Peña Boulevard at Denver International Airport. Now, the airport’s ready to make some cash on the eye-catching display.
Installed in 2017, the sprawling LED display attracted criticism for its $14.5 million price tag. Airport officials said that they would eventually recoup the money by selling ads on the billboard segments of the sign.
The profits have been paltry so far — less than $100,000 — but city officials expect business to increase under a new deal with Outfront Media. Advertising on the 48-foot billboards could be worth $1.2 million over the next year, according to early projections.
Only two-thirds of that money will go to the airport, which is part of the city government. At that rate, it would take about 18 years to repay the cost of the sign. However, airport officials expect sales will accelerate in future years.
Outfront, a national media company, will get the contract for five years if the Denver City Council approves at an upcoming meeting. The airport selected Outfront through a competitive process that launched last February.
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Currently, the sign displays house ads for airport services, but Outfront will try to sell the space to a broad range of clients. The billboards will come with some rules: no marijuana, no alcohol, no politics.
Councilwoman at-large Debbie Ortega also asked whether the city could restrict advertising from a particular company.
City staff said that’s probably not possible. “We regulate content. We don’t discriminate based on who’s buying the ad spot,” said Dan Reimer, an attorney for the airport. “We don’t really care who is buying the spot.”
The sign previously ran into financial complications. City officials originally expected to pay only $7 million, with Panasonic building the sign and taking on some of the cost. But an unexpected legal quirk eliminated that public-private arrangement.
Instead, the airport paid $11.5 million for Panasonic to build the sign and another $3 million for 12 years of maintenance. Under the revised deal, Denver no longer had to share ad money with Panasonic.
The airport paid for the sign out of revenues from its operations. Generally, that money can only be spent for airport-related items, rather than returning to the city general fund.
