Citi Field

I went to the Mets game last night with my dad and brother, and for the first time it was brought home to me that Shea Stadium's replacement is being called "Citi Field" as in the giant financial services firm, rather than "City Field" as in the English language phrase. The very possibility of the confusion seems to me to indicate that the Mets are pretty lucky in the sponsor they got. How annoying a sponsorship deal is always strikes me as having something to do with how annoying the name of the sponsoring corporation is. A straightforward one-word brand name like' "Staples Center" isn't nearly as bad as "TD Banknorth Garden" so it seems to me that companies with relatively inoffensive names should get a discount.

Of course the other thing is that pure longevity can dignify any kind of name. It almost feels as if the gum is named after Wrigley Field rather than the other way around, whereas when something happens like mergers in the telecom industry force the MCI Center to become the Verizon Center, you're really getting your nose rubbed into the seediness of it all.

Comments

Or when Enron Field in Houston became Minute Maid Park, after the whole Enron debacle.

Oh, the humanity!

Posted by Kathryn | June 14, 2008 11:16 AM

Be grateful you don't live in Philadelphia. The arena here has barely been open ten years and it has changed names three times(at least) already due to corporate mergers/acquisitions.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | June 14, 2008 11:19 AM

Any Infinite Jest fans in the house?

Posted by gately | June 14, 2008 11:19 AM

Which of course led to the nickname "the juice box", though I guess that was apropos with an energy company too.

My favorite is that hardcore fans often keep the old corporate sponser. So some Giants fans still refer to Pac Bell SBC AT&T Park as Pac Bell Park, and Bank One Ballpark Chase Field as the BOB, etc.

Denver residents so revolted over the name "Invesco Field" that they renamed it "Invesco field at mile high", though locals still just say "mile high"

Posted by Nicholas Beaudrot | June 14, 2008 11:20 AM

A straightforward one-word brand name like' "Staples Center" isn't nearly as bad as "TD Banknorth Garden"

No one outside the media refers to the building on Causeway Street as anything other than 'The Gaaaden'. Maybe, just maybe, the Fleet Center....so the joke's on TD Banknorth

BTW, They just changed their name to 'TD Commerce Bank', so it won't be the TD Banknorth Garden when the Celtics open their title defense in it.

Posted by Davis X. Machina | June 14, 2008 11:20 AM

Chicago got lucky with the United Center too, in that you can choose to think of 'United' in a non-corporate way if you want, and then it becomes kind of an uplifting civic symbol.

Posted by live | June 14, 2008 11:23 AM

I always thought it was named after Pops Staples.

Posted by mark | June 14, 2008 11:23 AM

If the majority of Mets fans don't refer to their club's ballpark virtually exclusively as "Shitty Field," I'll eat my hat.

Posted by ed | June 14, 2008 11:26 AM

Having your new retractable roof behemoth and future Super Bowl site named after an engine oil additive is pretty lame. Certainly the Colts expect to generate enough revenue in the next several years they could've had their pick of many naming rights bidders. Would sacrificing a few million over a twenty year period have been such a bad price to pay in order to avoid the lameness of "Lucas Oil Stadium" infecting every Monday recounting of a home contest? Blech! I don't think the public will be particulary enamored of their dependence on oil ever again. Naming your shining new bauble after an oil product summons images of those swarthy terrorist Arabs out to suck our coffers dry. Beats "Yahoo Stadium" I suppose, an apt moniker for a venue serving Hoosiers. Double Blech!!

Posted by steve duncan | June 14, 2008 11:26 AM

I wouldn't say its seedy, just distasteful.

There are some holdouts, but they're falling away. Supposedly the Rose Garden is going to get a sponsorship name for next season, which sucks. I hope it isn't Some Brand Arena, and is at least The Some Brand Rose Garden.

Posted by matthewcc | June 14, 2008 11:28 AM

Matthew: re: the MCI/Verizon center? Still the "phone booth" to me. ;)

~S~

Posted by Sabine | June 14, 2008 11:31 AM

My favorite is San Francisco's SBC Ball Park. I'm told by good sources that it stands for "Some Big Corporation". It will never need to change!

Posted by Matt (not the famous one) | June 14, 2008 11:31 AM

JK's Conscience -- at least the F.U. center had some poetic resonance, given how Philly fans operate. Names that can be abbreviated are good, so the Linc works better than "the bank." Fun fact -- Veterans' Stadium (the "Vet") almost became the "Philadium."

Mark -- not Mavis?

Posted by David B. | June 14, 2008 11:38 AM

With a name like 'Painful Rectal Itch', it's got to be good jam.

Posted by Richard | June 14, 2008 11:39 AM

I guess we lucked out in Milwaukee. Having the Brewers play at Miller Park doesn't seem that odd at all. Although I liked the name of the old stadium much better - Milwaukee County Stadium.

Posted by MG | June 14, 2008 11:40 AM

Wrigley Field was not named for the gum. It was named for William K. Wrigley, Jr., who owned the team and the gum company. Remember, correlation does not equal causation.

Posted by Bloix | June 14, 2008 11:41 AM

Here here.

I also thought that Citi Field was a happy coincidence (or not). I heard about it, and then they were giving out these little medallions with the new park's design on and I saw it was Citi not City, and thought, "Eh, well that makes sense I guess."

I agree that having to have a clunky name on your arena makes the whole thing feel totally synthetic, and I would suggest another factor that makes naming-rights-named facilities tolerable: the extent to which the company or product in the name is identified with the city by its citizens. Case in point from my home state of Wisconsin: Miller Park. The team is the Brewers; it's Brew City USA; makes perfect sense, right? I don't think a single person ever questioned it. (Now, they might question paying $7 for a plastic bottle of Miller Lite inside of
Miller park. But I think the name was pretty well-received.)

The other thing is, I am all but certain Miller Park will always be Miller Park. But now if I want to cite what the ballpark's name on the south side of Chicago is as the flip side, I have to worry about whether it's still U.S. Cellular Field or if that was ten years ago and it's changed twice since i last paid attention.

Ah, corporate America....

Posted by Mike | June 14, 2008 11:42 AM

In related news Rep. Kucinich wrote the IRS an 11 page letter asking whether the PILOTs (payment in-lieu taxes) used to help fund the NYC stadiums are even permissible under the law as the IRS interprets different aspects of the same project differently under the law -- unsuprisingly all the readings favor the big corporate owners in the Bronx and Queens.

http://domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2014

Posted by joejoejoe | June 14, 2008 11:49 AM

Before it was the Rogers Centre, the Ottawa Senators used to play in the Palladium. Mythological symbol + precious metal = quirky name.

Keep in mind that when the Trojans lost their Palladium, the city was burned to the ground. Similarly, the Senators have gone down in flames in the playoffs ever since the name change.

Posted by Ian | June 14, 2008 11:52 AM

US Cellular Field can be either Comiskey or the Cell, which is a pretty good name.

As a Mets fan, I swear I will only refer to the new park as Shitty Field. Since it certainly describes their credit rating.

Posted by Greg | June 14, 2008 11:54 AM

In related news Rep. Kucinich wrote the IRS an 11 page letter asking whether the PILOTs (payment in-lieu taxes) used to help fund the NYC stadiums are even permissible under the law as the IRS interprets different aspects of the same project differently under the law -- unsuprisingly all the readings favor the big corporate owners in the Bronx and Queens.

http://domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2014

Posted by joejoejoe | June 14, 2008 11:57 AM

I like University of Phoenix Stadium. It doesn't sound at all like a corporate sponsor. Instead it sounds as if the stadium is located on a college campus.

Posted by Atlantic Canadian | June 14, 2008 12:07 PM

The San Francisco Giants' park has to be mentioned of course. It started life as PacBell Park, was soon changed to SBC Park, and now I think is AT&T Park. Or has it been changed already? If companies with inoffensive names get a discount, then surely there should also be some sort of penalty for changing the name too quickly.

Now, to be fair, park naming sucks, but living in England for a year now and here is way worse. Sponsor names on the jerseys, and big and centered with the actual club's name small or not to be seen at all. I watch games fairly often and still in the subway on the weekend I find myself occasionally wondering if there's some big AIG or Emirates Airlines event going before I remember that it's just a football club jersey.

Posted by Will Hutchinson | June 14, 2008 12:21 PM

Bloix made the point I was going to make re Wrigley Field.

There is at least one product that is supposedly named for the stadium, in a sense. When the Busch family bought the Cardinals and bought Sportsman's Park from the St. Louis Browns, they wanted to call the park "Budweiser Stadium." Apparently the commissioner didn't want a park named after a beer, so the Busch family named the park "Busch Stadium" (the first of three), aand a couple of years later introduced "Busch Bavarian" beer. While it's widely reported, it certainly has the feel of an urban myth, but the timelines do work out (Busch family bought the Cardinals in 1953, Busch Bavarian debuted in 1955).

Posted by John M | June 14, 2008 12:30 PM

Didn't Citibank recently get a big foreign bailout? Much more help like that and by the time it opens next year, it could be Dubai International Capital Park.

Many Mets fans were hoping that Metlife would pony up for the naming rights. I imagine I will just call it New Shea.

Posted by RD | June 14, 2008 12:31 PM

I agree with Matt's criteria and think we Philly fans are lucky -- you can easily drop "Financial" to get Lincoln Field and "Bank" to get Citizens Park, and they sound pretty ok. Of course mergers could screw us in the future.

Posted by J-Ron | June 14, 2008 12:38 PM

The best unobtrusive corporate stadium name has to be the Cincinnati Reds' Great American Ballpark, especially b/c many people aren't even aware that "Great American" is an insurance company. But it's also got that regional connection (Great American being based in Cincinnati).

Speaking of Wrigley being named after a person not a company and Miller Park having great regional/identity ties, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Busch Stadium. So the original stadium(s) was(/were) named after the person/family, not the company. Does anyone know if the New Busch Stadium is named after the person or the corporation (since the Busch family no longer owns the team)?

Posted by Indecisive | June 14, 2008 12:38 PM

Wrigley Field was not named for the gum. It was named for William K. Wrigley, Jr., who owned the team and the gum company.

And who, as we've been reminded over and over again during the current naming rights battle, called it Wrigley Field to promote his business. So actually, of course it's named for the damned gum.

Posted by bh | June 14, 2008 12:39 PM

Key Arena works for basketball.

(which just reminds me that the prospect of *losing one's team* is far more offensive than stadiums changing names, but that wasn't my reason for commenting)

Posted by NickS | June 14, 2008 12:43 PM

An obvious hall of fame mention in this category goes to the 49ers (and formerly SF Giants) home of Candlestick Park. Not only did it kick off the current stadium naming fad with 3com park, but when the deal with Monster Cable to call it "Monster Stadium (at Candlestick Point)" expired, they passed a local ordinance by popular vote that forbids the city from selling naming rights again. Candlestick Park it is again.

Posted by dbt | June 14, 2008 1:11 PM

also, as a side note, Wrigley was originally named for the owner of the Chicago Whales of the Federal League, Charles Weeghman (it's the only park left from the Federal League), who then bought the Cubs when the Federal League folded. So naming it after the owner had historical precedent (Wrigley first named the park Cubs Park when he bought it).

Posted by dbt | June 14, 2008 1:15 PM

The Saints play in the Louisiana Superdome, and the Hornets play in the New Orleans Arena. No corporate sponsorship here!

Posted by alli | June 14, 2008 1:23 PM

Has anyone ever done an economic study on companies that buy naming rights? I'd guess the argument in favor of shelling out that kind of money is for brand awareness and such, but really is there anyone in the country that doesn't know there's a phone company caled AT&T? Does ever doing this ever increase sales?

(I know when my local bank bought the naming rights to the college bsketball stadium, I thought "Wow my bank has a lot of money. Guess they don't need mine," and switched banks. But I'm stupidly contrarian like that.)

Posted by Craig M. | June 14, 2008 1:33 PM

As an Ohio native, I do like what the Cleveland Baseball team did with the stadium. It was Jacobs Field, after Dick Jacobs who owned the team. He sold it but kept the naming rights for a few years afterward.

When the naming rights expired, the new ownership struck a deal with Progressive Insurance Co (based in a Cleveland suburb) to call it Progressive Field.

Very forward thinking.

Sounds like the ideal place for liberal bloggers to catch a baseball game.

Posted by ph | June 14, 2008 1:50 PM

In Kansas City, the over/under on a name change for the brand new Sprint Center is 5 years, and I'm taking the under. And by then we might have an NBA or NHL team to play there!

Posted by Dr Paisley | June 14, 2008 1:53 PM

One reason for all these corporate-sponsored parks is that that's the only way for business to associate itself with the game itself (as opposed to associating with players via endorsements).

By way of contrast, NASCAR has corporate logos on every square inch of every car and firesuit. Most of the races have sponsors as well. As a result (perhaps), the tracks, with only a couple of exceptions, are still called the Daytona International Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway, etc.

Posted by kth | June 14, 2008 2:04 PM

In Cincinnati, the Reds stadium is called Great American Ballpark. That's a whole lot better than a lot of other sponsor names I've heard.

Posted by carsick | June 14, 2008 2:09 PM

One reason for all these corporate-sponsored parks is that that's the only way for business to associate itself with the game itself (as opposed to associating with players via endorsements).

Well, it's the only way for many businesses, but obviously Nike, Adidas, Gatorade, and other companies have found various ways of doing so.

Other good stealth-corporate names besides Citi, U of Phoenix, and Miller include:

Turner Field (Braves)
Busch Stadium (Cardinals)
Raymond James Stadium (TB Bucs)
Edward Jones Dome (Rams)
Philips Arena (Hawks)

and certain ones that are obviously corporate but still go nicely, besides the United Center and Staples Center, include Ford Field, the old Delta Center, the old Fleet Center, Tropicana Field, Coors Field, Chase Field, and Heinz Field.

Posted by right | June 14, 2008 2:18 PM

Worst arena name ever:

The National Car Rental Center.

Posted by H. Wayne Huizenga | June 14, 2008 3:02 PM

My favorite is San Francisco's SBC Ball Park. I'm told by good sources that it stands for "Some Big Corporation". It will never need to change!

As someone pointed out above it is now AT&T park. Same phone company all along, name just changed through mergers. I just refer to it as "phone company park."

Posted by Tom | June 14, 2008 4:22 PM

Not sure if it's been covered before, but the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL play in "University of Phoenix Stadium" despite the fact that the University of Phoenix doesn't actually have any sports teams, as it's a continuing education/online classes institute. I think that might be the winner for least-obvious naming rights (tho Citi Field is pretty good, too).

Posted by JoeF | June 14, 2008 4:57 PM

"I agree with Matt's criteria and think we Philly fans are lucky -- you can easily drop "Financial" to get Lincoln Field and "Bank" to get Citizens Park, and they sound pretty ok. Of course mergers could screw us in the future."

Yeah, but nobody in Philly actually refers to the stadiums these ways. We've got "The Linc" (not bad) but CBP doesn't seem to have developed a popular shorthand name yet. I just call it "the park" but that's nothing but a genericism.

Posted by Andrew | June 14, 2008 5:34 PM

Great American Ballpark is mightily fortuitious. It reminds me of the home of Swansea City FC here in Wales - they play at the Liberty Stadium, which is sponsored by Liberty Property Development, although I'm not sure how many people realise it.

Posted by keith | June 14, 2008 5:39 PM

The Great Western Forum is one of the all time great sponsored names. It took well over a decade until I realized it was sponsored by a bank. Of course, I was a little kid then, but it's in the West, it was Great, so it work. Just like Great American Ballpark for the Reds.

Posted by Mo | June 14, 2008 7:37 PM

Actually, I thought that the Giants' stadium's name of "Pac Bell Park" sounded rather fucking epic...

...leaving aside of course that Barry Bonds should be crucified on a cross of steroids and needles.

Posted by MNPundit | June 15, 2008 3:33 AM