Four Light Rail Cars to be Wrapped with NBA Advertising

Four light rail cars will sport more color and flash after they're wrapped with ads promoting the NBA's upcoming 2009 All-Star game. Look for media coverage of the trains on Monday, when Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon introduces the first ad-covered car at the Metro Operations and Maintenance facility at 2:30 p.m. and...

By Ray Stern

January 23, 2009

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Four light rail cars will sport more color and flash after they're wrapped with ads promoting the NBA's upcoming 2009 All-Star game.

Look for media coverage of the trains on Monday, when Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon introduces the first ad-covered car at the Metro Operations and Maintenance facility at 2:30 p.m. and rides it into downtown.

The trains will remain wrapped till the All-Star Game, which is scheduled for February 15.

The printed vinyl wraps are being produced by Tempe firm bluemedia, which puts real zing into the vehicles it touches:

Until now, the Metro light rail system has avoided plastering ads on the trains, but the NBA promotion might set a precedent to do more. Anything would help to recoup some of the $1.4 billion light rail start-up cost.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.