Up to $4 million, the Shriners are hoping.

For somewhere between $2.5 million and $4 million, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine is for the first time selling the naming rights to its venerable Shrine Auditorium – and opening itself up to a myriad of other corporate sponsorships to get additional pocket money.

Executives, aware that such corporate sponsorship deals are more prevalent than ever, started contemplating the move last year.

“The timing is right,” said Duke Collister, general manager of the historic auditorium, which is located downtown at 665 West Jefferson Blvd.

But they want to be choosy. “We’re looking for a partner that makes sense for us. I just couldn’t see us as the Jiffy Lube Auditorium.”

The Moroccan-styled 6,300-seat auditorium was first built in 1906, though it burned down in 1920 and was rebuilt in 1926. Home to the country’s largest stage (194 feet wide and 69 feet deep), the Shrine is still the site of the American Music Awards and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Emmy Awards.

The Academy Awards, Grammy Awards and the NAACP Image Awards have been held there, too. The Oscar ceremonies were frequently held there in the 1980s and ’90s, until the Kodak Theater opened. The Staples Center has hosted the Grammys since 2000.

The Shrine Auditorium and Expo Center are operated by the for-profit arm of the fraternal organization.

The deal to sell the title probably would be a multi-year agreement with renewal options. If the Shrine could sell the rights for $4 million in a four-year deal, the $1 million-a-year take would approach some of the lucrative naming-rights deals for big sports arenas. The rights for San Francisco’s AT&T Park, formerly SBC Park and Pacific Bell Park, sold a couple years ago for $50 million over 24 years, or a little more than $2 million a year.

Selling the naming rights is only part of the Shrine’s initiative to raise money. It plans to sell display advertisements for as little as $2,000 per show, but will sell packages ranging from $150,000 to $500,000 for all manner of signs, billboards, video displays and sales tie-ins.

Sunglasses-maker Oakley Inc. is already reviewing a contract to sponsor the green room, where celebrities and performers relax pre-show.

But since it hosts more nationally televised non-sports events than any other venue, the Shrine figures to have high naming value. The “broadcast from the world famous Shrine Auditorium” line used so often over the past decades will now present an opportunity for brand recognition.