BANGOR, Maine — For Woodrow Cross, seeing the words “Cross Insurance Center” on the side of Bangor’s new arena and events center is the realization of a dream he never even dared to have.
Back in the 1950s, the Bradford native’s only involvement with a civic arena was as a part-time cement tester working for a company building the Bangor Auditorium, which opened in October 1955.
Cross had just started his one-man, Bangor-based insurance agency in 1954 and business wasn’t brisk enough for him to support his family, so he supplemented his income by working part-time jobs.
Now Cross, 95, still puts in six days a week at the agency bearing his name, but his agency has grown into a statewide and regional business employing about 450 people at 27 offices in three states.
Cross, his son Brent and grandson Jonathan were all on hand Tuesday morning at the city’s official announcement of the naming rights for the $65 million, 8,000-seat arena that will be hosting events as early as the fall of next year. The naming rights are the result of a 15-year, $3 million deal between Cross Insurance Agency and the city.
“It’s quite something to see that on this arena,” said Woodrow Cross, who also used to work part time at the mill for Eastern Fine paper in Brewer. “And it’s nice to be a part of this project.”
He was referring to artists’ renderings of the finished arena and its signage on display at Tuesday’s press conference.
Brent Cross, who grew up on Silver Road in Bangor, remembers delivering copies of the Bangor Daily News as a Sunriser for several years.
It’s that kind of local connection that excited the speakers at Tuesday’s naming ceremony, held inside an arena that is rapidly taking shape.
“I’m thrilled that it’s a truly local company investing in this,” said Bangor City Manager Cathy Conlow. “I think from a personal perspective, this is really a momentous day for us. I’m moved that a family in Bangor would invest that kind of money into naming this facility.”
Bangor City Councilor Pat Blanchette referred to Cross as a multigenerational, homegrown family business from Bangor and said it was “probably one of the most unique naming situations in the country.”
Bangor City Councilors Charlie Longo and James Gallant were also on hand for Tuesday’s ceremony.
“Brent Cross and [nephew] Woody Cross taught a risk management class at Husson, which Jamie and I both took,” said Longo. “You would think that people who own a company big enough to have the Red Sox and Patriots as clients wouldn’t take the time to teach a class at Husson, but they do and that’s what’s so great about Cross.
“They’re big, but they’ve never lost that local sense of where we come from.”
Cianbro Corp. Chairman and CEO Peter Vigue, whose company is constructing the arena, thanked the Crosses for their investment, saying the project is much greater than a new arena, but also about “advancing this city and this community.”
“You are endorsing this facility by putting your name on it,” Vigue said.
The Crosses were originally referred by Friends of the Maine Center, a grass-roots advocacy group for the new arena, as a possible founding sponsor of the arena. The Friends group made the referral to Front Row Marketing, a company contracted by the city of Bangor that specializes in generating ancillary income for sports and entertainment venues.
“Front Row approached us initially about a lower category of sponsorship, but then I said, ‘Well, what about the naming rights?’” said Brent Cross.
“They had five or six companies they’d been talking to for a couple months, but after we talked to them on July 5, we had them back in on Monday, July 9, and made them an offer.”
The arena isn’t finished and the name has yet to go on the exterior, but Cross said his company’s deal is already paying dividends.
“I think it’s exceeded our expectations already,” Brent Cross said. “A couple of insurance journals picked up the story and spread it nationwide, so we’ve already gotten the kind of buzz we were hoping for.”
Cross said a broker in Vermont who sells insurance agencies saw the story and called to tell Cross he has an agency for sale.
“We would love to get into Vermont, but as much as expansion is key for us, this is where all our high-paid jobs are,” said Brent Cross. “Our IT people come out of Bangor, our finance people, our high-paid, salaried positions are in Bangor, Maine. They’re not in Boston, they’re not in Manchester, they’re here.”
It is a sad state of affairs when an arena is named after a blood sucking insurance company.
He dreams, the public pays.
Come up with 3.5 to 4 million dollars and you can name it anything you want.
Just wish it could have been cross insurance auditorium or something like that …out of towners will think its an insurance office
maybe they can put an underwriting desk next to the hot dog stand?
That’s exactly what I thought when I heard it. People will come in wanting to buy insurance. Still don’t like private names on public assets. It makes me cringe.
I said the same thing when this story was first reported. Why not the Cross Events Arena or the Cross Arena? I also have to say that I think the city jumped way too fast. 3million is pretty low now a days for advertising of thsi caliber for that length of time. You would have thought they could have gotten much more. Wonder who’s the buddy on the City Council that got this approved?
Leaving out “Insurance” would defeat the whole purpose for Cross, as the company wants the get its name out there. Calling it simply “Cross” wouldn’t distinguish Cross Insurance from an individual named Cross or some other company named Cross.
Also, considering that the arena will not have a full-time tenant, there isn’t much more to get in naming rights, especially because the Bangor market is so small.
Yeah but as someone else wrote the need for “cross insurance” is needed becuase of advertising reasons but arena or auditorium would have been nice…and telling of what the building is.
Do people think the Staples Center is a Staples store?
It doesn’t say Staples Office Supply Center so no.
And this will become know as “the Cross”.
So it’ll have a Christian connotation?
Not at all. Just like “Boston Garden” is called “The Garden” or “Fenway Park” is called “Fenway” or “Tropicana Park” is called “Trop” or “Bangor Civic Center” is called “the Civic Center” people will shorten the name.
Looking awesome in there! Can’t wait for plenty of good events sure to come.
Not many events. floor space is smaller. old arena could double the floor space when the seats were pushed back. your not pushings these seats anywhere.
Ah no the floor space is not smaller. It is wider and longer then the current auditorium floor.
With the seats pushed back. put the garden show on the floor in the new one.
This arena will be a competitor to the Cumberland County Civic Center. The rock concerts that drives the usual dozen old people and country fans in the area crazy will now have the ability and needs to hold a show in the arena. Sesame Street, the circus…Nothing to lose more to gain.
The floor-level seats retract. Even when they’re not retracted, the floor of the new arena will be larger than the floor of the Auditorium.
I was unaware they were doing this today, I would have went. I understand the Cross’s being their but why wasn’t I invited.
Self appointed bunch have the nerve to do this without inviting me or the public.. You work for the people, you understand council members.
Invite the public, to these events..
Surely you must be joking? This is EXACTLY what this city council is all about. They believe they are a higher class of citizen and have their little parties and get togethers and balls with all the richy riches of the city and they laugh at the struggles of the rest of us. Honestly it makes me sick every time i work my butt off at the Folk Festival and see all of them attend the free booze affair the night before it begins…Smaller level of what really goes on in this city.
Oh yeah and all too true!!
The arena is still a construction site. I’m sure there will be an open house when the arena is finished, just as there was for the Bangor Auditorium.
You can follow the project’s progress at http://bangorinfo.com/Focus/arena-progress-videos.htm. Unfortunately, the city doesn’t seem interested in my documentation project beyond that which can be seen from the outside. Which is too bad, considering the lack of documentation for the construction of the current Bangor Auditorium.
I wanted to go to the beam signing, and this and only found out after the fact. Why should only a select crowd be invited to these events?
Where was OSHA durning all this. Hard Hats, Steel toe Boots, saftey goggles etc. It is a constructing site after all.
I expect to see some fines for each and every person that was there without this equiptment
Your work has been great Ryan! I have been following it and want to thank you for doing it. The city should let you in to film the inside. Shame on them. Any publicity for this place should be welcomed, not shunned. Nice job.
I was at work anyway.
The arena will have 5,800 seats, not 8,000.
I think the 8000 number includes general admission, but you’re right, GA is technically standing, so 5,800 SEATS is correct.
Not only that, but at least a couple of hundred of those 5,800 seats belong to the luxury suites. Ice shows (which will have to bring their own ice), monster truck shows, the circus, basketball games, and other events that will use most of the floor won’t see anything close to 8,000 seats.
To take things further, any event that needs the full length of the floor won’t even have 5,800 seats available, because to use the floor’s full length, the telescoping seats on the south end will have to be retracted.
The arena is too small.
And for those people expecting a larger lobby for the basketball tournaments as fans wait for games to finish before they sit down — sorry. From what I’ve seen, the space is the same as it is at the Auditorium.
I don’t see how the Bangor market could support a larger arena, and ice would be nice but without a permanent tenant using the ice it is a pretty large expense with little payoff (and Bangor is too small of a market for AHL, the best we could hope for is major-juniors and they didn’t last too long in Lewiston or ECHL, which isn’t likely either). The city would not keep ice down for one or two ice shows a year.
Wasn’t the population of Bangor larger than it is now when the original auditorium was built?
Don’t count out the major-juniors just yet….
Ice shows travel with their own ice. If you have ever been on a sheet of ice used for hockey you would understand why ice shows travel with ice.
Just another tombstone purchased in the name of pride, the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. He has a long ways to go to catch Harold Alfond in the tombstone competition. A bigger man would have made the “donation” anonymous and told them to call it the Bangor Civic Center. Sorry Mr. Cross, I will be taking my insurance business else where.
Yes, I agree. It’s sickening.
I believe “envy” is one of those as well. Is it not?
Envy? lol. I’m 52, semi retired, and spend my time fishing with my grand children. I have no debt, no obligations, and I do volunteer work when ever I can. I seriously doubt Mr. Cross is any more content with his life than I am with mine. Nope, no envy here.
Booo…
If they were going to sell naming rights anyway, I am glad to see that a family-owned, local business bought them. Would be much more offensive to me if a Boston-area business had the naming rights.
I am sure people would find a reason to complain if it was the Darling’s Dome or the Quirk Center because somewhere along the way they bought a POS car that broke down.
We should all be happy there is growth and expansion taking place in Bangor. This new arena will be a great venue that attracts more and bigger acts to Bangor which, in turn, will attract more people. Those people will eat in Bangor restaurants, stay in Bangor hotels and buy gas in Bangor before heading home.
I was thinking about the Bangor Car Care “COME JOIN THE PAAHHHTY” Center? Nah, Cross Insurance Center sounds better.
River City Center would’ve been nice too.
Well here is how I see it, it must be a major ego boost for the family ? 3 million for 15 years, is a deal indeed. But as was said, its a local firm. I bet MacDonald’s would of greatly exceeded that amount but hey, its a done deal. I remember the local developer Bion Foster and his 1 million dollar donation to The University of Maine, a few years ago, he received all the publicity and TV coverage but we never heard if he actually gave them the money or reneged on payment ? Anyone know as I have heard many stories ?
A successful self made man with personal ties to the new arena and his home city. Love it.
This article is giving Mr. Cross way too much credit for the business that bears his name. We all know that he “didn’t build that!”
Perhaps calling it the “Government Insurance Center” would have been a fitting tribute to our Dear Leader’s recent speech in Roanoke, VA…
I don’t know if they are up to date on the lastest Obama rant.
The Cross family is a group of very good people. Insurance, is unfortunately, a business that we all need. Many comments here are out of line with what they are trying to do. They employ local people and provide jobs for many others that are connected to the insurance industry. I say kudos to them for putting their money where their mouth is. Everyone seems to hate those who have been successful. Welcome to the new America. We used to celebrate success but now we cast a dim view of those who have done better than us. Keep voting for the Obama legacy and have no fear that success stories will be fewer and far between. When 51% live on government benefits and 49% try to work and pay for them, this party will be over. By the way, I am not rich nor involved in any way with the Cross family nor the insurance industry. Rant over
Read up on CLUE reports and see if you still feel the same way.
I understand CLUE reports. What is your issue with them and how does it relate to the naming of the Bangor Arena. Do you expect an insurer to charge you the same as someone who has had 12 accidents? Dont you think that claims a person makes against an insurer should have some bearing on what it costs you to insure your property or belongings. In the perfect world that you might believe exists everyone would pay the same. Unfortunately, those who have more chance on destroying a car or have a low credit score are assigned a higher risk number and therefore pay more than others who have a lower chance of crashing or choose to work hard to pay the bills they bring upon themselves. It appears that society as a whole has decided that no one should make money and no one should have to face the consequences of past behavior. Once again, life is not free or easy. How would insurance work if we all paid the same and all of us put in an equal or larger amount of claims than the amount we paid in. Hint, no insurance for anyone, even if you were a responsible person.
Do you think someone running a company should do it to break even. If so, we are all screwed. Business people are in business to make money. In the process they allow employees to make money. Then we pay taxes on the money so that we can improve infrastructure and make this a better place to be. Then more people want to live here and to do that they buy items and even open up a business of their own, serving others and trying to make some money. It worked for a lot of years. If you want to see where we are headed, take a quick gander at Europe. We cannot afford to support those who want something for nothing. Please dont get started on the banking and housing crisis and how businessmen and bankers were greedy. Yes, there is some of that but the real issues is that the government guaranteed loans to people who could not pay the money back. Thus, the government failed us yet again. The people who bought homes they could not afford are as much to blame as all of the other ingredients of that ongoing mess.
Just shut up and let the Cross Insurance Company get some value out of the money that they spent to name the auditorium. That is what I was getting at to begin with. Success should be lauded and not crapped on. I liked the America that I grew up in. It “aint” perfect but please, applaud the success and stop blaming everyone else because you think your life sucks because you cant have everything you want. As I tell my son, once a week, in this country you can have anything you want, you just cant have everything you want. Thanks for the tip on the CLUE reports. Find a park to haunt with the other occupiers that are angry that American business is paying their way.
Very good rant.
I never post but lets all remember almost all big stadiums/arenas these days are sponsored by bigger companies. Example…The Boston Garden is actually TD Bank Garden.
So just accept it? Is Boston Garden Boston’s or TD’s property?
I honestly cannot tell you if Boston owns the garden or if TD does…but that was just an example. If you where to google any major stadium/arena most these days have a name on them by a bigger firm. I agree that it is a bummer b/c it does take the local feeling out of it and how it’s no longer feels like it’s just for the people.
There’s a reason for the loss of local feeling. Read up on Agenda 21. All planned out for the future since long ago. We don’t know what we’re doing so the experts must tell us and design our lives for us.
Delaware North owns the Garden
Fodda for the entitlement crowd.The Demorhoids will sue someone to change the name and get the three million distributed among the non producers. How dare they make money .
lol ok whatever timjy making stuff up
They? Do you mean corporate city of Bangor?
Calling OSHA
construction site violations here.
Hard hats, safty boot, goggles etc. Cianbro allowed people on their work site without the proper saftey equiptment.
I will be waiting for the charges to be brought up or I will be sending in a request for a refund when I got fined for not having my ladder 3 feet above the roof line.
They are not working
I’m not allowed on any construction site without safty gear.. Go over today for a vist and I bet they have safty equiptment for visitors to wear durning your visit.. I’ll will wager they do.
If theres nothing going on no work being done you do not need safety stuff on. Like when BIW has an open house people are going thru the plant an theres no work going one they don’t have safety stuff on
All visitors need to wear safety equipment. It’s on all of the signs at the site’s entrances. It doesn’t matter whether you’re just walking through.
Like i said before if you people are not whining about one thing it another grow up now i see why kids act the why they do
I believe in KAMA
I really find this recent idea of naming ball parks & civic centers after companies to be distasteful. It’s like, couldn’t you come up with a better name than that? It’s much more appealing when such a facility has a name that reflects the area it is in. I agree with “letsbehonestforonce” that River City Center would have been a nice name.