"Bud Light Amphitheater", nice work Raleigh (Durham: unemployed, gardens)

[CarolinaPEn]

My main problem with Bud Light amphitheater would be if they only then sell Anheuser-Busch based products. I hate when this happens and like to have a decent selection of beers.

[meanieme]

I prefer something to support our local business and not always implying alcohol. I'd rather see it be named "Krispy Kreme Amphitheater". Get a free KKD on your way out!

[Sayantsi]

Well, go ask Krispy Kreme to go drop a few million for the name! ;P

Fact is, the city is hurting for money, and it will take the money wherever it can get it. Just hope Preparation H doesn't step up as a sponsor.

[flavadave]

Well, in the world of redneck beers Bud Light is considered the classy option. That said, I'm still not a fan of the name.

[jperryrocks]

You can't beat the $$ that the big American Breweries have.

Their marketing budgets are HUGE and they can spend away to get their name on most anything.

Downtown concerts are almost always associated with some beer or Soda company anyway.

Budgets are tight for cities and the fact that this place is even here in this economy is a plus for music goers.

glass 1/2 full

[dp38393]

Originally Posted by eloyfan

Smithwick's Amphitheater for me, but most would not pronounce it correctly.

I do enjoy some "Smit-icks", and I actually have heard it is like the Bud Light of Ireland

[DownEastB]

Pershonally, I'd like to schee the Night Train api...ampth..mushick place. Bud Light is for amateurs. *hic*

(Seriously, you think that's bad? Try telling people you're going to a show at the Jiffy Lube Amphitheater with a straight face. Jiffy Lube!)

[aphorista]

I think it comes down to the fact that it is mentioning a product by name rather than using the corporate name. The Budweiser Ampitheatre sounds better to me, just like the Playtex Ampitheatre would sound better than the Playtex Tampon Ampitheatre or the Kellogs Cheerios Ampitheatre. Naming the actual product just sounds tasteless in my humble opinion.

[SFspiderman]

Bud Light is the "official beer" of a huge number of professional sports leagues and individual teams. Anheuser-Busch soaks up almost all of these league sponsorships, and Bud Light is the primary product it attaches to most of them. Bud Light is the official beer of the NHL and shares MLB with the Budweiser brand. And Bud Light will become the official beer of the NFL beginning next year.

That's an awful lot of "hicks".

http://www.anheuser-busch.com/pdf/bl_major_sports_sponsorships.pdf (broken link)
Bud Light to Be NFL's Official Beer - WSJ.com

[whiteboyslo]

Option 1: Budweiser comes in and spends tons of money to help pay for the venue. As a showing of gratitude (and probably from some contractual obligation over the money), we name it whatever the heck Bud wants.

Option 2: We all get so uptight over a name that we tell Bud to walk. The money needed to complete the project either never comes at all or comes out of the taxpayers' pocket. If the latter, we name it after some dead politician or other 'Who cares?' figure.

And either way, beer is served inside.

Come on folks. Unless it's being sponsored by Al Qaeda, I'm of the opinion that the least the city could do is name the venue in accordance with the wishes of those who wrote the check.

And as for naming the venue after booze perpetuating the stereotype the rest of the nation might have regarding our neck of the woods, it won't. Everyone else in the nation gets how this works because it's happened there, too.

Mike