Signs of the Times Taken Down

In 2005, ipayOne made a deal to pay $2.5 million over five years for San Diego Sports Arena naming rights. Last week, the venue reverted back to its original name and workers took down ipayOne signage.

The action somewhat confirmed a Pollstar magazine report that said the Carlsbad-based mortgage company stopped making payments for the naming rights last year. It's been confirmed that ipayOne is no longer accepting real estate listings and that it is liquidating its assets.

The Sports Arena sits on land owned by the City of San Diego. In addition to lease payments to the city amounting to nearly half a million dollars annually, Arena Group 2000 is expected to pay the city 10 percent of the money it gets from Sports Arena naming rights. Developer Ron Hahn, the owner of Arena Group 2000, allegedly has majority ownership of the ipayOne brokerage. The ramifications of the city losing out to the approximately $200,000 it was expecting to receive over the next three years are unknown.

Neither Ron Hahn nor his son Ernie (general manager of the Sports Arena) returned calls requesting comment.