A friend and I were discussing strange names for basketball arenas.
Some of the names we came up with were …
The Palestra
The Cow Palace
The Hemis-fair
The Mecca
The Rosemont Horizon
The Omni
The Salt Palace
Any other ones we are missing?
I don’t know if you want to include auditoriums, but when I think of goofy names, the Tweeter Center (formerly “Great Woods,” which was a fine name) springs immediately to mind.
The 80,000 person stadium
It’s in Shanghai. I think they could have been just a little more imaginative and less literal, ya think?
It is still better than stadiums named after banks.
i.e. The First Union Center
Didn’t anybody realize the acronym problems with that? Or is that typical Philadelphia humour? 
Did Bobby Clarke suggest that name? First Union, sure. But, why choose “center”? Why not “coliseum”? Wait. That wouldn’t work either.
My first thought on reading the OP was Comerica Park.
I mean Tiger Stadium wasn’t all that clever but Comerica Park?
Now we have Ford Field?
When the Pistons start playing in Stay Free Arean, I’m otta here.
The “O-Rena” (Orlando, FL) became the "T.D. Waterhouse Centre.
Pretentious.
Not even any offices in the Orlando area.
And not too long after the name went up, T.D. Waterhouse (company) filed for reorganization.
Come to think of it, the Magic haven’t been playing as well since the name was changed (and Shaq left, and Horace left, and Darryl went to the Hornets, and lots of other stuff, but you get the idea.)
The Houston Astros, saddled with playing in Minute Maid Park, and their fans would probably kill for a park named after a bank.
I think Greenville, SC has the worse stadium name ever:
The Bi-Lo Center
Even worse than having a grocery store name double as a stadium, since Bi-Lo is up for sell, it will make less sense than before.
It’s not really a stadium, but the Fred Jones theatre at The University of Oklahoma is, to me, a boring name.
The most boring name for a stadium, ever: The Ballpark in Arlington
We can (partially) thank Dubya for this one.
Palace of the Fans (actually quite charming) in Cincinnati until 1911.
Sicks’ Stadium (Seattle Pilots 1969)
Enron Field.
See, but Ford Field makes perfect sense, given that the Ford family owns the Lions and built the stadium.
University Arena in Albuquerque, New Mexico is affectionately known as The Pit
Keath Olbermann and Dan Patrick did a peice on this in their book “The Big Show” – Funny stuff
Indianapolis has the RCA Dome and Conseco Fieldhouse.
RCA has since left town and Conseco is a bankrupt insurance company under government investigation.
I liked it better when we had the Hoosier Dome and Market Square Arena. The names were goofier, but at least they weren’t of corporations who cared nothing at all for the city.
People in Missouri are up in arms because of the name of the new basketball arena at the Univ of Mizzou in Columbia. The $$ to build the arena was donated by a couple who are heirs to Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart fortune. And since they put up the money, they insisted on naming the arena. Their choice?
Paige Arena
Named after their 20-yr old daughter who is a student at another university in another state! They have already named a scholarship and another building on campus after her and now they named the arena for her as well.
Being a Kansas Jayhawk fan, I am rather amused by the whole thing, but it is a pretty goofy name for a basketball arena.
Geez, she must definitely be a spoiled rich girl who gets everything she wants and adores attention. Because, any normal young person I know (and many older folk, as well, I suspect) would cringe at the idea of mom and dad naming something after them, no matter now prominent. It would embarrass them…
What about I.M.A. Sports Arena in Flint, MI?
I never thought about until one day on WWF Wrestling, King Kong Bundy made a joke about the venue…“What kind of Arena has to announce it’s name - I am a Sports Arena? I don’t care if you are a Sports Arena, I will win the Intercontinental Championship from The Macho Man”. Or something along those lines…
In San Jose, there is the Hewlett Packard Pavillion, nee Compaq Center. Why did they name the place after a line of so-so desktop PCs? They should have at least called it the Carly Fi Arena (HP CEO - Carly Fiorina)
Pacific Bell Park in San Franicsco has been renamed SBC Park. Nobody’s happy about it, except SBC execs in Texas. btw, SBC stands for SBC - used to be Southwestern Bell Co., but is now officially simply three letters.
When the wind’s right, I can smell the Cow Palace - the place originally (and still) was a venue for livestock expos and the Grand National rodeo in addition to sporting events.
And the Rosemont Horizon? Like so many other places, it got bought and now wears the name Allstate Arena.