# Bankrupt Stadiums **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670 "2002-12-18T22:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SwimmingwithChickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SwimmingwithChickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingwithChickens)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/1 "2002-12-18T22:31:21Z")
Does anyone know of a list of company sponsored stadiums that have gone bankrupt? I’m thinking PSI Net (Raven’s stadium) and such. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/2 "2002-12-18T23:18:09Z")
Well, the Houston Astros’ stadium used to be named after Enron! Now, it’s named after Minute Maid. Personally, I wish stadiums were named after the teams that play there, or after local heroes, rather than after corporations, but I guess I’m living in the past there. I mean, with PSI Net out of business, what could be more appropriate than renaming the stadium after Johnny Unitas or Brooks Robinson, or someone like that? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/3 "2002-12-18T23:37:01Z")
I have heard Pro Player Stadium (Miami Dolphins) is like that. Used to be Joe Robbie Stadium, so folks call it Pro Robbie. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/4 "2002-12-18T23:38:01Z")
CMGI Field became Gillette Stadium. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/5 "2002-12-18T23:39:39Z")
In the Houston case the stadium didn’t experience bankruptcy, and Enron didn’t own it. Enron had merely agreed to pay X jillion dollars to have their name on it. The Astrodome may well have trouble earning enough to continue its existence. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/6 "2002-12-19T03:28:19Z")
I read something recently (sorry, I can’t remember where), saying that a prominent marketing firm felt that stadium naming rights was one of the best “bang-per-buck” advertising methods currently available. If that’s even close to being accurate, I think we’re going to be dealing with stadiums changing names every few years for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/7 "2002-12-19T06:35:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ringo \* > \*\*The Astrodome may well have trouble earning enough to continue its existence. \*\* You mean the Reliant Energy Astrodome? Now that the Olympic bid has failed, it’s a parking lot within 3 years. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/8 "2002-12-19T12:56:40Z")
The Indiana Pacers play at [the Conseco Fieldhouse](http://www.nationalbasketball.org/pages/TOC.html). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/9 "2002-12-19T14:44:23Z")
Wow, at least in Michigan the name “Ford Field” sounds totally _not_ like an endorsement of FoMoCo, since Ford is a completely common name around here (a la I94, the Ford Freeway except in Eastpoint where they’re insane and think they can rename it the Kennedy Freeway on their own little city maps). “Ford Field” also rolls nicely off the tongue and doesn’t feel at all commerical (here, anyway) when you say it. “Comerica Park,” on the other hand, has no way around it. If you say “Tiger Stadium” everyone still thinks of the old “Tiger Stadium.” Of course the Silverdome has no corporate name associated with it, but will likely be called something like “Pontiac South Industrial Park” or whatnot. The “Palace of Auburn Hills,” too, is nice and non-commercial. Finally, the “Joe Louis Arena” is non-commercial, but I wonder why no one’s formed a corporation called “Joe Louis” to capitalize on the name and popularity? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/10 "2002-12-19T15:12:45Z")
Slight hijack: I can still name every one of the 14 stadiums that major league baseball used in 1950 (which hadn’t changed since the Phillies abandoned Baker Bowl in the 30s) and I probably can’t name a half dozen today. And the ones I can name are stadiums like Jacob’s Field, Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field, which are not sponsored. Come to think of it, two of them have the same name as in 1950 (even if Comiskey isn’t the same stadium). So I wonder if MLB isn’t shooting itself in the foot with these sponsorships. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/11 "2002-12-19T15:36:21Z")
Hari Seldon: > [@](#): > > So I wonder if MLB isn’t shooting itself in the foot with these sponsorships. I highly doubt that - they get the money for the sponsorships, and people easily enough find their way to the stadiums even if they only remember the old names. Chaim Mattis Keller Hoping Kauffman Stadium never becomes “Wal-Mart Field” ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bankrupt-stadiums/143670/12 "2002-12-19T17:12:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hari Seldon \* > \*\*Slight hijack: I can still name every one of the 14 stadiums that major league baseball used in 1950 (which hadn’t changed since the Phillies abandoned Baker Bowl in the 30s) and I probably can’t name a half dozen today. And the ones I can name are stadiums like Jacob’s Field, Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field, which are not sponsored. Come to think of it, two of them have the same name as in 1950 (even if Comiskey isn’t the same stadium). So I wonder if MLB isn’t shooting itself in the foot with these sponsorships. \*\* As I Clevelander I must point out the fact that Jacobs Field IS sponsored. Then Indians team owner Dick Jacobs paid for the naming rights to the baseball field. Had “Cleveland Waste Management, Inc.” outbid him for the naming rights then the commission would’ve happily named the stadium after it.