The University of Colorado won't re-up its sponsorship of the Regional Transportation District's A Line commuter train.
CU got naming rights to the A Line, which opened in 2016 and connects Denver International Airport to downtown Denver, as part of a $5 million deal with RTD.
The A Line, however, does not serve the main CU campus in Boulder. That led to some confusion and derision among local media and transit users. CU officials said at the time the point of the deal was to elevate the CU brand.
In a new statement, CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue said the institution valued its partnership with RTD but decided to take things in another direction.
"We continually assess how we spend marketing dollars and have determined to pursue other avenues to promote the university," he wrote in an email.
CU's decision means that A Line naming rights are now up for grabs.
"We are going to be actively recruiting someone out there, some company that might want to enter into an agreement with us," RTD spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas told the agency's board earlier this month.
So what should its new name be? I'll probably just call it the A Line, to be honest. But some local tweeters have other ideas:
CU's rights expire next May, Tonilas said.
