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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Sports stadiums use to be named for the most part with identifiable names associated with the local area or in honor of local citizens (Fenway, Astrodome, Madison Square, Shea Stadium etc..) and some still are but so many major league sports facilities are be branded and then rebranded again with coporate names, and quite frankly some of them are totally lame. Take Denver for example. The Broncos had played at Mile High Stadium (very much a trademark association to the city). Then a new stadium was built and it was called Invesco Field at Mile High. Now it's Sports Authority Field. Really? I wonder how locals react to this. I wonder how many just diss the corporate name altogether and still just call it Mile High. Candlestick Park in San Francisco went through some corporate branded names (dot com whatever field or something like that) before retreating back to Candlestick Park again.
What's the story in other cities. Are the sports facilities named appropriately, or at least by a corporation that has a strong affiliation to the local metro area or are they being branded and rebranded again with corporate names that people could care less about. Do locals call the facilities by their branded names or by their original ones? Discuss...
With Safeco (Seattle), I remember at first, they were trying to get people to nickname it "The Safe"... except, people didn't really generally bite onto it. It just remains "Safeco Field" (of course, no point in referring it as "Kingdome"... there's no dome and its a different stadium). Our football stadium was "Qwest Field"... now they just changed it to "CenturyLink Field". There were commentary about the Corporate "Takeovers" on our local culture... but people just kinda blew it off. It wasn't a difficult transition for the name change.
Its not just Stadiums and arenas. We have a mall area... for the longest time known as Southcenter Mall. Well, Westfield brought it. Wanted everyone to call it Westfield mall. Except, that didn't happen. People kept referring it to Southcenter. They ended up changing it to "Westfield Mall at Southcenter" (and if you watch the local news, the anchors take the time to say the whole thing instead of saying just Southcenter mall. So odd). Of course, the big difference between the Southcenter mall and those stadiums? Those stadiums were brand-new so there's not yet a public affiliation with any name.
Here in San Antonio, the AT&T Center has always had a brand name attached to it since it opened in 2002, so nobody calls it anything else. The city's other professional sports venues do not have corporate branding.
IMO, branded names are going to be the norm because of the money generated by the sale of naming rights, and it will be unusual to see a US pro venue that doesn't sport some sponsor's name.
Last edited by Bo; 03-13-2012 at 08:34 PM..
Reason: Tie PoE
Candlestick Park in San Francisco went through some corporate branded names (dot com whatever field or something like that) before retreating back to Candlestick Park again.
Thank God for that. Prefer the old-fashioned convention.
I had a feeling that Qwest Stadium in Seattle would go to Century Link Stadium. Sounds really stupid.
I absolutely hate the name Minute Maid Park. Enron Field was more classic
The Summit changed to Compaq Center now its Lakewood Church
Reliant Center is kind of cool.
Toyota Center is kinda Bla.
The New Soccer Stadium here is gonna be called BBVA Compass- corporate branding to the overload
The Louisiana Superdome is now the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, first corporate sponsor and I like it, couldn't think of a better corporate sponsor myself.
I understand it is a necessary evil. As a tax payer I am not turning my nose at a company paying tens of millions to put their name on the facility.
That being said I wish more cities would work with their local corporations in terms of naming. Like in Minneapolis how Target(HQed there) has their name on the basketball and baseball venues.
Or here in Omaha our new baseball stadium is TD Ameritrade Park. I like how at least an Omaha company put their name on the building.
I absolutely HATE the name "University of Phoenix" Stadium where the Cardinals play. An absolutely beautiful stadium with such a stupid, tarnished name. A stadium that comes across sounding like a college stadium...a nontraditional and online university with no sports nonetheless . Although UOP employs many people in Phoenix, I really could do with less University of Phoenix in Phoenix (or even Glendale for that matter).
Chase Field (Diamondbacks) - Nice park...not so bad name and not a far departure from it's former name Bank One Ballpark (BOB) because of the merger between Chase and Bank One.
US Airways Center (Suns) - name not a far departure from America West Arena (another merger that turns into a name change).
Jobing.com Arena (Coyotes) - great arena, another stupid name...might as well just call it Westgate, although I'm sure it's an excellent venue for job fairs (just the people without jobs aren't going to see the Coyotes there). I'll still take it over Whataburger Field, Dunken' Donuts Center, or PETCO Park (I always think of a dog show)...
One name for a minor league park was rejected: Miller Lite Stadium in San Antonio (it's instead named for a former mayor). Another scuttled sponsorship was "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn Humanitarian Bowl." They were going to offer $1 million/yr to the game.
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. Although UOP employs many people in Phoenix, I really could do with less University of Phoenix in Phoenix (or even Glendale for that matter).
