# What was the first pro sports venue named for a company? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 21, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156 "2019-01-21T16:02:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/1 "2019-01-21T16:02:05Z")
And what was the last time a new pro sports venue was named for anything other than a company? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/2 "2019-01-21T16:14:26Z")
Possibly not the first, but we can start with either Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, which are the two oldest parks in the majors. Wrigley Field was given that name in 1927. It started out as Weeghman Park in 1914: > **[Wrigley Field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field)** > > Wrigley Field /ˈrɪɡli/ is a baseball stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Whales of the Federal League, which folded after the 1915 baseball season. The Cubs played their first home game at the park on April 20, 1916, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings. Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. of the Wrig... I suppose you can point out that it was named for “Wrigley” the man, rather than his company. I’d say it’s a distinction without a difference. Fenway Park is debatable as to whether it’s a corporate name or not: > [@](#): > > Taylor claimed the name Fenway Park came from its location in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, which was partially created late in the nineteenth century by filling in marshland or “fens”,[14] to create the Back Bay Fens urban park. However, given that Taylor’s family also owned the Fenway Realty Company, the promotional value of the naming at the time has been cited as well. … ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/3 "2019-01-21T16:26:19Z")
Oh, and what do you want to consider a “new sports venue”. I suppose Wrigley can’t count if you really mean a brand new stadium as opposed to a renaming or a renovation for a new sports franchise. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/4 "2019-01-21T16:33:38Z")
Not the first, but when Anheuser-Busch bought the St. Louis Cardinals (baseball version) and [Sportsman’s Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportsman%27s_Park), they wanted to rename the facility Budweiser Stadium. > [@](#): > > Commissioner Ford Frick vetoed the name because of public relations concerns over naming a ballpark after a brand of beer. However, the commissioner could not stop Anheuser-Busch president August Busch, Jr. from renaming it after himself, and so he did; many fans still called it by the old name. The Anheuser Busch “eagle” model that sat atop the left field scoreboard flapped its wings after a Cardinal home run.[9] The next year, Anheuser Busch introduced a new economy lager branded as “Busch Bavarian Beer”, thus gaming Frick’s ruling and allowing the ballpark’s name to be branded by what would eventually be Anheuser-Busch’s second most popular beer brand. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/5 "2019-01-21T16:35:17Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Oh, and what do you want to consider a “new sports venue”. I suppose Wrigley can’t count if you really mean a brand new stadium as opposed to a renaming or a renovation for a new sports franchise. For the “first pro sports venue named for a company” I’m wondering about the first in history. I meant to add “…in the United States” for both questions. Poop! For my curiosity I DO make a distinction between a stadium being named for (or sponsored by) a company and honoring a person. Perhaps that distinction isn’t always possible. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/6 "2019-01-21T16:39:21Z")
And for the major US Sports leagues, the most recent without a corporate name seems to be Marlins Park, where the MLB Miami Marlins play. opened in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/7 "2019-01-21T16:45:09Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > And what was the last time a new pro sports venue was named for anything other than a company? How do you count arenas that initially have a non-company name but later sell the naming rights to a company? I doubt if it’s the most recent, but the Moda Center in Portland (named after an insurance company) was named the Rose Garden for about 20 years before the rights were sold. Would something like that count towards this question? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/8 "2019-01-21T16:47:18Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Possibly not the first, but we can start with either Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, which are the two oldest parks in the majors. The question is tricky because a number of team owners put their name on their business, as well as their stadium. Did Walter Briggs name (what would later be called) Tiger Stadium after himself or after his very successful Briggs Manufacturing Company? When beer guy August Busch bought the St. Louis Cardinals and their stadium in 1953, he wanted to change the name of the ballpark to Budweiser Stadium. He was talked out of it, and instead named the park Busch Stadium. Then Busch’s brewery came out with Busch Beer. In 1947 the Tokyo Giants of the Japanese Baseball League were officially renamed the Yomiuri Giants, after the Yomiuri conglomerate. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/9 "2019-01-21T16:51:01Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > The question is tricky because a number of team owners put their name on their business, as well as their stadium. Did Walter Briggs name (what would later be called) Tiger Stadium after himself or after his very successful Briggs Manufacturing Company? … Exactly the point I made with Wrigley. In his case, I would say that he was so associated with his company that it can’t be named for him without being an advertisement for his company. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/10 "2019-01-21T16:59:04Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > And for the major US Sports leagues, the most recent without a corporate name seems to be Marlins Park, where the MLB Miami Marlins play. opened in 2012. Ah, yes. I wonder if any corporate was money involved in its construction. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/11 "2019-01-21T17:55:49Z")
As another example of what **dtilque** is talking about, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas was named Cowboys Stadium when it opened in 2009. (Although as I recall Jerry Jones made little secret of the fact that he was just waiting for a suitably sweet naming rights deal.) Regardless, the name change to AT&T Stadium didn’t happen until 2013. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/12 "2019-01-21T18:01:50Z")
Boston’s TD Garden always had a bank’s name, except for [a brief interregnum](https://thehockeywriters.com/the-bizarre-naming-history-of-td-garden-a-k-a-derek-jeter-center/) between contracts when the “official” name was up for a daily auction on eBay for charity. There were thirty winners (I have never found a complete list), although “Derek Jeter Center” was rejected. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/13 "2019-01-21T18:09:23Z")
Not a company, but how about the Flavian Amphitheatre - the Colosseum - in 72 CE as the first? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/14 "2019-01-21T18:29:14Z")
The Fenway, Wrigley, and Busch examples involved companies/persons who owned the team and/or the stadium. With regards to naming rights by non-owners Wikipedia [suggests:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_rights) > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Foxboro Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots between 1970 and 2001, was an early example of a team selling naming rights to a company that did not own it, naming the stadium Schaefer Stadium after the beer company from its building until 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/15 "2019-01-21T18:31:32Z")
Wrigley and Fenway appear to be the answer, at least for major venues of the 4 big sports in the U.S. that are still operating. 🙂 As for the renaming of an established venue (for a major sport in the U.S.), I’d offer the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis changing its name to the RCA Dome in 1994. At the time it raised eyebrows, but I noticed it seemed to launch a trend that quickly spread to every major U.S. city, especially when a new venue was constructed. Except for Wrigley and Fenway, I’m hard-pressed to think of a venue built in the last 30 years that isn’t named for a corporation - more knowledgable sports fans can help me I’m sure! Makes it hard to figure out where sports (and concerts, etc.) are actually being held when advertised. As an aside, I believe Indianapolis (the Colts in particular) kicked off the modern trend of NFL teams relocating to a new city. I recall at the time NFL announcers on the major networks kept stumbling on the Colts new name, calling them Baltimore followed by them saying how weird it was for a team to move. Now, relocated NFL teams are a common thing and no one seems to have a problem with new names. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/16 "2019-01-21T18:37:28Z")
> [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](#): > > As an aside, I believe Indianapolis (the Colts in particular) kicked off the modern trend of NFL teams relocating to a new city. I recall at the time NFL announcers on the major networks kept stumbling on the Colts new name, calling them Baltimore followed by them saying how weird it was for a team to move. Now, relocated NFL teams are a common thing and no one seems to have a problem with new names. Raiders moved from Oakland to LA in 1982. Colts moved in 1984. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/17 "2019-01-21T18:39:57Z")
Philips Stadion - the home of PSV Eindhoven, a leading football team in the Netherlands - has had Philips as part of the name since 1910. OK, PSV started out as the Philips works team, but still. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/18 "2019-01-21T18:56:07Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Raiders moved from Oakland to LA in 1982. Colts moved in 1984. And the Dallas Texans relocated to Kansas City to become the Chiefs in '63. I suspect it was pretty common in earlier days ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/19 "2019-01-21T19:09:55Z")
> [@txjim](#): > > And the Dallas Texans relocated to Kansas City to become the Chiefs in '63. I suspect it was pretty common in earlier days Oh, agreed. I imagine a lot of U.S. teams for the major sports relocated during the 1940’s through the '60’s. It would be interesting to see a timeline of team relocations, and I’d wonder if the mid-60’s to the Raiders and Colt move in the early 80’s might show the most team location stability for that 20 year stretch - at least for the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156/20 "2019-01-21T20:32:18Z")
Not the venue, but the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League were named for the bread company run by their owner. Crosley Field in Cincinnati was renamed in 1934 to promote Crosley cars and radios after Crosley bought the team. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-pro-sports-venue-named-for-a-company/828156.md?page=2)