STEELERS: "H.J. Heinz Co. agreed to pay Pittsburgh $57 million over 20 years to get its name on the team’s new stadium. The condiment company and the Steelers announced the name of “Heinz Field” on Friday, with a huge plastic ketchup bottle towering next to the new stadium, which opens this fall, and a Heinz banner hanging from a scoreboard. The deal amounts to about $2.85 million a year for the Steelers, with the Pittsburgh company receiving exclusive rights to sell its products at the $281 million stadium" A huge ketchup bottle........now thats funny Whats next, a huge pair of underware for BVD stadium ------------------
The Steelers got a deal. How about $300 million for Reliant Stadium, then Reliant requests for three rate increases since then?? ------------------ Beware the blank post!
Smart move by Baltimore. I heard that PSI.net is out of business. How is an out of business dot com supposed to continue to pay for naming rights of Ravens Stadium? ------------------
Several companies that bought naming rights are either out of business or on the skids. TWA is no more. ProPlayer doesn't exist. CMGI has hit hard times (before that stadium even opened). PSI.net is in bankruptcy, but the company is not out-of-business like TWA and ProPlayer. ------------------
I'm not a fan of naming rights either. For some reason, the "National Car Rental Center" and "Staples Center" just doesn't have the same ring to it as the Great Western Forum or The Summitt. I realize this generates money and all, but it does take away from the appeal of sports, in a way. From Boston Gardens to the Fleet Centre. From Maple Leaf Gardens to Air Canada Centre. From the Montreal Forum to the Molson Centre. From the Pacifac Colliseum to General Motors Place. From the Olympic Saddledome to the Pengrowth Saddledome. From the Marine Midland Arena to the HSBC arena (what the hell? ) I could go on but I think you get the point. Some are better than others - United Centre & ACC are bearable. And what's up with those word associations? The Hangar (ACC). The Laptop (Compaq Center). The Phone Booth (MCI Centre). The Garage (GM Place). The Car Lot (National Car Rental Center). Ok, my rant is now over. Carry on. Azim da Dream ------------------ "Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." - Geroge W. Bush, commenting on the troubled continent, to reporters in Sweden [This message has been edited by Azim da Dream (edited June 22, 2001).]
How about Foxboro Stadium to CMGI Field, bleh . ------------------ Ceo of the Walt Williams and Lisa Malosky fan club. My Mockumentary atheistalliance.org
Kiko Teriyaki Stadium. ------------------ Protrolls.com! Save Our Game Action Forum! [This message has been edited by ZRB (edited June 22, 2001).]
I actually got to talk to Don Jordan, the former CEO of Reliant, during the campaign on several occassions. They got the naming rights in October, a solid month before the referendum. I told him that I thought it was bogus that they would consider increasing rates and still spend $300 million on naming rights. I said that I figured he was still a big stockholder and that he should complain for people who can barely afford their bills now. I pointed to my $300 electricity bill last August as an example! He told me that he helped with the naming rights but didn't agree with the rate increases because he thought it presented a very negative image. He also said that Reliant is really dividing up it's business into a number of different areas to focus on energy, broadband communications and other areas. As a result, budgets are separate and these things tend to happen. In all honesty, he is a VERY nice guy and I believed him. He seemed very sincere and I'm not usually one to trust people in his position. Anyway, I at least got to complain to someone with a degree of power. ------------------ Things do not change; we change. - Henry David Thoreau
The thing about naming rights that has most surprised me is that they are getting to be everywhere. Even Amarillo's special event center and baseball park have sold their names to local companies (actually just one company bought both. So the Special Event Center is called the Amarillo National Center, and the baseball park is called the Amarillo National Dilla Villa). When relatively small cities can sell naming rights to run-down ballparks housing crummy independent league teams, the concept has probably gone a little too far. I would compain about how buildings are no longer named after important people anymore, but so often, I don't know who the supposedly important people are that get these buildings or highways or whatever named after them. How many people know who the Dealey of Dealey Plaza was? How many people know who the Stemmons of Stemmons Freeway was? How many people in Arlington know who Angus Wynne was? Or R.L. Thornton? Or Walton Walker? Or even Earle Cabel? I would even venture to guess that there are some (ignorant) people who don't know who the LBJ Freeway is named after (I am going to guess that virtually everyone knows who the George Bush Turnpike is named after, though I suppose that could be confusing, too, since there are two George Bushes). Would it really make any difference to me if the stretch of highway by my house were named the Angus Wynne Freeway or the Sunkist Freeway? At least I know what Sunkist is. ------------------
Northwestern sold off the name to their field to a wealthy alum *after* it was written in stone that it would never be changed from Dyche Stadium/Field, whatever the hell it's called. The Dyche had donated the moolah for the original stadium about 70 yrs ago, and it caused a hell of a furor up here about 2 or 3 years ago. Now they're thinking about selling the naming rights to both major league ballparks and Soldier Field up here. Sign o' the times. ------------------ The Poulan Weed-Eater Posting Spree 2001 [This message has been edited by keeley (edited June 25, 2001).]
Pittsburgh Steelers should have held out for $58 Million. What a quandry that would have been! Kenan Stadium (home of UNC football) has an unusual condition attached to it's naming right. They can never add on to the stadium so that you CANNOT see to tops of the pine trees serving as a backdrop-- but I like it. Just one more reason that UNC football will never gain national prominence! ------------------ "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak. Because someday you will have been all of these." [This message has been edited by RichRocket (edited June 25, 2001).]
