What do you guys think of this new name? To me, it doesn’t sound Philadelphian; it just sounds… financial. I dunno. I thought they could have done better.
Let’s open the floor to other parks, too. Do you like the name of your local team’s park?
Company names on ballparks only work for me if the company has a strong tie to the city. Coors Field in Denver, Miller Park in Milwaukee, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, the United Center in Chicago (wonder how much longer than name will last) to name a few.
Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco is something of a happy accident. San Franciscans hated when Candlestick got renamed to 3Com (Candlestick is presently available for corporate sponsorhip, contact Willie Brown’s office if interested!), but never bristled at the PacBell name for the new park. It shouldn’t work, but it somehow fits the park perfectly. Unfortunately, since PacBell’s parent SBC has banished the name Pacific Bell to unify their corporate branding, the park will likely become SBC Park next year. Barf. I fully expect people here will continue to call the stadium PacBell into the future though.
Funny how the three baseball stadiums you mentioned in your first paragraph all have beer as their corporate sponsor, huh? Quite telling!
Anyway, there are plenty of Philly-area businesses that might have sounded better, although I’ve no doubt the winner was the one with the most cash to offer.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I almost couldn’t believe it when one of my friends in Philly told me their new arena was gonna be, but then again, it was too easy.
I just worry what’ll happen when they finally decide to replace Fenway. I mean, baseball’s not my sport - I’m a hockey fan, and I did eventually stop calling the Fleet Center “The New Garden” (working there for four years helped) - but even in my mind, Fenway is legendary beyond legendary. Fleet will probably find a way to get their hands on that too, between having the main indoor arena in town and having put their name on the concert venue Harborlights, now FleetBoston Pavilion. I used to flippin’ hate it though when people would try to get into games for free to use the ATM because Fleet is a bank. I don’t know if they were scamming or if they were really that stupid, but it didn’t work.
And of course, the Spectrum is now called the F U 2.
I’m amused that while those two buildings are neighbors, the First Union Arena is 90 miles up the turnpike in Wilkes-Barre. I wonder if that has confounded any concert ticket buyers yet.
Another example: Pepsi Arena, Albany. Pepsi Center, Denver.
And hell, come to think of it, the Pittsburgh Penguins play in Citizens Bank Arena.
BTW, are those buildings all now going to be named for Wachovia? The banks are now starting to switch over.
You know, it’s funny but I don’t think Fleet Park would be a terrible name for a new park as far as corporate sponshorips go. I mean, places like Heinz Field, Busch Stadium, Miller Park, the United Center, Great American Ballpark, Reliant Stadium, Ford Field, Philips Arena, or Delta Center don’t bother me too much. Those don’t sound like they completely sold their soul as they aren’t blatantly corporate and at least sound like they have a bit of a heritage to them. It’s the ones like the new US Cellular Field (formerly Comiskey, which should be a crime), Bank One Ballpark, Pepsi Center, American Airlines Center, FedEx Field, Network Associates Colisseum, or Minute Maid Field that sound just completely wrong and get my goat.
I mean, geez, have some self-respect. Especially the Astros and White Sox.
You know what’s even funnier Elwood, the fact that there are two American Airlines in the NBA. One in Dallas, American Airlines Center for the Mavs and one in Miami, the American Airlines Arena for the Heat.
I agree that renaming Comiskey is criminal. But nobody around here seems to mind the name Bank One Ballpark; pretty much everybody refers to it as “The BOB”. I’m starting to get worried about the Coyotes new arena that’s going up out in Glendale though, what hideous name they’ll give it…
While I was working at the Fleet Center, I fielded a few calls for people who not only confused our building with the FleetBoston Pavilion, but with the similar-sounding Tweeter Center in Mansfield (formerly Great Woods) as well. Speaking of, I’m almost positive I’ve seen other Tweeter Centers in online tour listings too.
I don’t think Fleet Park, or Fleet Field if you wanted to be alliterative, is so much a bad name as a) Fleet already has their name on everything else and b) it’s Fenway. It’s holy. You don’t mess with it. Jeremy Jacobs had already sullied the Garden, so it’s appropriate that he put up his own building, which already has huge chunks missing from walls all over the place. Nope, the Fleet is not going to last seventy-some years like its predecessor.
On the other hand, there was the thing about “when the Sox get a new stadium, they win the World Series.” But I still like the old place.
I think Fleet is a great name for a stadium or arena. After all, the way the public is made to pay for these rich sports teams’ facilities and then made to pay through the nose if they want tickets, clearly, fans are taking it up the @$$, just like an enema.
Around here it’s more commonly known as the Fleece. But the arena was, as far as I know, paid for by Delaware North Corporation. Back in The Day, Jeremy Jacobs - CEO of Delaware North - used to be the concessions provider at the Boston Garden, and Boston Garden Corp. was trying to get rid of him. So he bought the Bruins and said fine - get another food vendor, I’ll take my team to another arena. He now owns the new arena as well, though Fleet paid mightily for the naming rights (Fleet Bank that is, not the enema people).
Pac Bell Park hasn’t caused much of a ruckus because Pacific Bell put in a lot of money to build the stadium. $0 of the ballpark came from taxes. I figure if some private investors and companies build the damn thing, they’re more than welcome to put their name on it.
Now if it was born as Willie Mays Park or something, then some company bought the name, then there’d be hell to pay. San Francisco hates “3Com Park” plenty, and Pac Bell Park is leaps and bounds better (name- and experience-wise).