December 01, 2006

The Ten Biggest Stadium Naming Rights Deals.: On the heels of Citigroup's 20-year $400+ million deal with the Mets, Forbes takes a look (and an auto-loading slideshow, in the name of fair warning) at the largest arena/stadium naming rights deals.

posted by Ufez Jones to culture at 07:14 PM - 8 comments

I really hope that Steinbrenner doesn't sell the naming rights to the new Yankee Stadium. No matter how much I hate the Yankees there are just certain things that shouldn't disappear from the sport and a Yankee Stadium is one of them.

posted by kidrayter2005 at 07:50 PM on December 01, 2006

No Emirates Stadium?

posted by salmacis at 10:40 AM on December 02, 2006

Personally, I hate corporate names for stadia (and particularly golf tournaments), they are cumbersome and lack taste. They must produce the least amount of return in the history of advertising, too. Save your money, corporate America, and let us call our venues by more traditional names.

posted by mjkredliner at 11:48 AM on December 02, 2006

I don't mind corporate names for stadiums, its the corporate names for college bowl games that bothers me. Fine bowls such as the Citrus Bowl and the Peach Bowl have now become the Captial One Bowl and the Chik-a-Fil Bowl (or something like that).

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 11:51 AM on December 02, 2006

NASCAR races are the worst. When I worked for a country radio station, we played Busch and NEXTEL Series races on the weekends, and they were the stupidest things, like "The Spongebob Squarepants The Movie 500." The Busch Series races were even worse, with charmers like "The Lucas Oil Grease-Packed Bearings 250." Real roll-off-the-tongue names, real easy to sound natural on the air with. I always pitied the crews from MRN and PRN who had to say these idiotic, cumbersome names 50 - 100 times through the course of the race. I only had to promo them a few times a week.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 07:24 PM on December 02, 2006

How about Enron Field?

posted by sickleguy at 08:39 PM on December 02, 2006

Well, sickleguy, I love your posts, but please allow us Texans a chance to pretend that we don't remember that one. Down here we don't like much ugly stuff, at least the stuff so big that we can't cover it with a 10-gallon hat, and a lot of ugly is covered that way. I guess the biggest thing that cranks up my ire is the gosh-awful battle that is experienced by homeowners, local citizens and visiting taxpayers to finance these arenas only to have a business capitalize for a few farthings. I want to know where American Airlines was when that arena was being planned here in Dallas, or where was Ameriquest when the Ball Park in Arlington was being financed with tax money. Likely getting their hats blocked. The Dallas Cowboys' new arena is a worst case. Too, many people are being forced from the homes through the application of the Imminent Domain policies. Fair or unfair is the question to be answered, bit you can be assured that some profiteer will write a check for a pittance to put the company name on it. Where are they now? Waiting for tax money and the governmemt to pave their path to profits, of course. Publically financed stadii, therefore, should be freed of profiteering. In more simplistic terms, if Toyota wants their name on a stadium, then let 'em build the damned thing.

posted by Bud Lang at 09:46 PM on December 02, 2006

I completely agree.

posted by kidrayter2005 at 11:01 PM on December 02, 2006

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