Companies keep paying megabucks for stadium naming deals, yet many of these companies soon encounter serious business difficulties within just a few years. Presumably, these companies are willing to pay such a premium because they expect they will get a lot of publicity. But a lot of the time, even if the team does well and has great attendance and TV ratings, the deal doesn’t work out for the sponsor.
Granted, in each case where a stadium naming deal goes sour, there had to be other factors that played a more direct role in seriously harming these companies. But wouldn’t you have loved to short/buy puts on some of these not too long ago:
The football stadium in St. Louis gets named the TWA Dome. The Rams win the Super Bowl, but TWA goes bankrupt soon thereafter.
The football stadium in Baltimore gets named PSINet stadium. The Ravens win the Super Bowl, but PSINet files for bankruptcy soon thereafter.
The football stadium in Charlotte gets named Ericcson Stadium. Ericcson has lost significant market share to Nokia and the stock has been battered.
The football stadium in Miami gets named Pro Player Stadium, then Pro Player files for bankruptcy.
The stadium in San Francisco gets named 3Com Park. Then, 3Com gets its butt kicked by competitors and the stock tanks.
The baseball stadium in Houston gets named Enron Field. Though the Astros have had some success, the company has completely tanked in one of the more stunning collapses in American corporate history. The share price had been $84 and now is pennies.
The St.Louis Baseball Cardinals moved into to Busch Stadium in 1966. Won the series in 1967 and went back in 1968. And the parent company is far far FAR from doing poorly.
dead0man
Not a coincidence. Stadium naming rights are bought by managements that have more emphasis on ego gratification, and the personal fun of prime luxury boxes at major events, than on running their businesses responsibly.
Actually, they’ve been playing in “Busch Stadium” since 1953. When Gussie bought Sportsman’s Park from the Browns, he really wanted to name it “Budweiser Stadium” but the league wouldn’t allow this.
In Boston, when the Boston Garden was to be replaced by a new area, the bidding winner for the name was a bank known as “Shawmut” hence the new “Shawmut Center”. They painted the bank logo (an indian head) on the backs of every one of the thousands of seats in the arena.
Then, Shawmut was acquired by Fleet.
The new Fleet Center had to change out every single chair with the old obsolete logo. Cost them major $$$, but the Fleet Center and the classic parquet floor live on…
The Anaheim Angels (or the city, can’t remember who owns the damn place lately) sold the naming rights to Anaheim Stadium to Edison International (formerly Southern California Edison), which is now the most hated utility in CA, if not the world, due to our ongoing energy fiasco!
And I don’t think George Wrigley named the park after his company, but after himself personally. That was good old-fashioned self-aggrandizement. The guy was an egotistical jackass.
Actually, you’re thinking of the cheapskate Charles Comiskey, Sr.
Wrigley Field was named after William Wrigley, but he was a well-respected owner (previously, the field had been Weegham Park, back when the Federals and Whales played there. When the Cubs were moved from Cincinatti, the park was named Cubs Park in 1920, and then Wrigley Field in 1926).
