Could "The Bucs Stop Here" be the Pirates-sponsored theme for the future Port Authority subway station next to PNC Park on the North Shore?

How about "PPG Place" as the name for the new glass-covered Gateway Center Station being built Downtown in the shadow of the glass-covered PPG Place building complex?

Anything's possible, Port Authority board members surmised at recent committee meetings, where they endorsed the idea of selling naming and promotional rights for the 1.2-mile light-rail extension and other assets to increase revenue.

The transit agency is seeking proposals from marketing consultants and public relations firms to explore possibilities for sponsorships. The proposals are due by May 22.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland said the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority recently sold naming rights to a high-profile, buses-only route to Cleveland Clinic for more than $6.25 million over the next 25 years. The 9-mile dedicated lane on Euclid Avenue -- not unlike the contra-flow bus lane on Fifth Avenue through Oakland -- will be named the HealthLine.

In addition, Cleveland officials are looking to sell naming rights to 10 stations on the HealthLine for up to $1 million each.

The successful recipient of the Port Authority's new marketing contract will be required to:

• Assist in developing a revenue-generating, corporate-sponsored naming rights program.

• Review assets to identify those with marketing potential and estimate their value.

• Develop and implement a strategic marketing plan to solicit potential sponsors.

• Negotiate corporate naming rights agreements.

In addition to such traditional advertising as bus posters and placards, which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual revenue, there's precedent for one-time major corporate participation in Port Authority affairs.

Past deals have ranged from PNC sharing costs of the First Avenue T station next to the bank's operations center in 2001-02 to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center paying $1.1 million for ads on buses and light-rail vehicles in 2006-07.