Purist lover decry embodied stadium designation - rights sight as another step in the crass commercialization of sports . Owners see the deals in a different light ; a well - negotiate software package can bring in 100 of billion of dollars in receipts for a team . Sixty years ago , no one would have see this debate coming . At the prison term , stadiums and arenas were mostly named after people or their geographic localisation , and now it ’s a moment strange to see a stadium going by such a nondescript moniker .
So how did our sports stadium become billboards capable of seating thousands of citizenry ? Here ’s a flake of history , including the hurly burly over whether Citigroup , which needed federal aid to outride afloat , should have been plunking down $ 400 million for a bowl assignment pot with the New York Mets .
This Bud’s To Blame
The Astros Learned a Valuable Lesson
But they were n’t alone . The Astros were n’t the only squad to stomach such a debacle . The Tennessee Titans could n’t have liked playing in Adelphia Coliseum after the cable company went belly-up due to monolithic internal depravity . The Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins thought they were get a big deal when they sold the distinguish right to Joe Robbie Stadium to Pro Player , a caller you might remember for making mutant - theme overclothes in the mid-90 ’s that was very like to Starter ’s but nowhere well-nigh as coolheaded ( at least not at my middle schooltime ) . Pro Player was part of Fruit of the Loom , which do in the division as part of a 1999 bankruptcy instalment . Unfortunately for Miami ’s teams , the stadium - naming pile was for a full decade , and the name Pro Player Stadium stick until 2005 .
It’s Not Just Corporate Names That Can Embarrass You
The University of Missouri learned this one the toilsome way . When Mizzou opened its new hoops arena in 2004 , it support the name " Paige Sports Arena . “ The titular Paige was Elizabeth Paige Laurie , the daughter of Wal - Mart heiress Nancy Laurie and her husband Bill . The couple had donated $ 25 million to help build up the sphere . This name seemed like an odd but endearing gesture from ultra - productive parents , but it was a bit confusing , particularly since Paige choke to college at USC , not Missouri .
It turned out , however , that this was n’t the first sentence one of the Lauries had opened their wallet in a major way on a college campus . Later that year Paige ’s first-year - class roommate at USC revealed that Paige had devote her $ 20,000 to write Paige ’s papers and do other coursework at USC . The Laurie parents right away returned the scene of action ’s naming rightfulness to the university adopt this scandal .
Not All Companies Want Naming Rights
When the St. Louis Rams moved to town in 1995 , they played the first one-half of their home slate in Busch Stadium while waiting for their fresh dome to open . The team then locomote into the Trans World Dome , call after Trans World Airlines . Unfortunately TWA could lose money as quickly as the " Greatest Show on Turf" Rams offense could score touchdown , and in 2001 American Airlines bought TWA , which was bankrupt . American Airlines did n’t desire the naming rights to the stadium , though , so the dome pick up the generic name " Dome at America ’s Center" for a time of year before brokerage firm Edward Jones buy the right in former 2002 . obviously American Airlines was n’t contradict to all appointment - rights deals though ; it now has its name colour on two dissimilar NBA stadium , the house of the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat .
