The name game

Corporate bids bring blandness to sports arenas

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor touches on a Hot Button issue each Monday on CNNSI.com. After you read Phil's take, give us yours.

Help, I'm lost. What's the difference between the American Airlines Center and AmericanAirlines Arena, both of which house NBA teams? When you refer to the Compaq Center, are you talking about the Compaq Center that used to be the Summit in Houston or the Compaq Center that used to be San Jose Arena (or is it San Jose Arena that used to be the Compaq Center)?

While we're on the subject, where are Heinz Field, Comerica Park and Philips Arena? Last week the stadium in Houston that used to be Enron Field was re-named Minute Maid Park. With all the talk lately of ballplayers being juiced, was that really a good idea?

Welcome to sports facility hell, where you can't keep the stadiums and arenas straight without a scorecard. Thanks mostly to franchises selling the naming rights for their homes to the highest corporate bidders, more and more buildings are being stuck with sterile names that all blend into a forgettable pile. Quick, where is Alltel Stadium? (It's the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.) How about the TD Waterhouse Centre? (Orlando Magic.) Can you name the home arena of the Atlanta Hawks? (It's the aforementioned Philips.) You have to wonder whether the companies who use the stadiums and arenas as expensive billboards are getting their money's worth. After all, I still don't know what 3Com (which used to be Candlestick) stands for. There is something called PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Unless PNC stands for Pirates Never Contend, I have no idea what that's all about.

Sports venues used to have much more meaningful and memorable names like Mile High Stadium in Denver, The Spectrum in Philadelphia or Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Those titles added a certain romance to the game that's missing from too many of today's facilities. That's why fans always resist the notion of calling an old stadium or arena by a new name. Candlestick will always be Candlestick, for instance, no matter who buys the right to put a different name on the side of the building. Twenty years from now, do you think a Denver Broncos fan is going to grow misty-eyed at the memory of going to games at something called Invesco Field? Did you even know the Broncos played at Invesco Field?

Minute Maid Park sounds like a new area of Disneyland, not a ballpark, but we'll forgive the Houston Astros because they wanted to forget the Enron disaster as quickly as possible. A little orange juice should get the taste out of their mouths. But from now on, there should be a rule that all sports venues must have a name that relates either to the team moniker or the region, or is catchy in some other way. In general, the naming of a facility can't be purely a financial transaction between the team and some widget-maker. The Pyramid (Memphis Grizzlies), the Rose Garden (Portland Trail Blazers), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles) and even the somewhat pretentious Palace of Auburn Hills (Detroit Pistons) are in. Edison Field (Anaheim Angels), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), FedEx Field (Washington Redskins) and Heinz Field (Pittsburgh Steelers) are out. America Airlines Center (Dallas Mavericks) and AmericaAirlines Arena (Miami Heat)? Out and out.

Then there's Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, a name which is especially unfortunate, not just because I have no idea what a qualcomm is or what it does, but because the home of the Padres and Chargers used to be called Jack Murphy Stadium, which will always be close to my heart because it was the only major league venue named after a sportswriter. If the name had to be changed, we could have offered a better option. Given the warm climate in San Diego, may I humbly suggest Hot Button Stadium?

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor writes about a Hot Button issue every Monday on CNNSI.com.

 

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