The RCA Dome annoyed the hell out of me for years.
It was a nice stadium, original called the Hoosier Dome. You may find that to be a silly name, but it’s a common nickname for people from Indiana. We all call ourselves Hoosiers. Well, then RCA swooped in, apparently thinking that throwing cash around would make their products more popular.
Except, (if you follow me here), there is no goddamn RCA! The company doesn’t exist anymore; it’s just a label for certain products - the RCA name is literally sold just to be used on some crap, and signifies nothing about the quality or even manufacturer. The state of Indiana sold symbolic naming rights to a stadium used by lots and lots of Hoosier (not just big sports teams) for a measly $10 mill, and for something which doesn’t even exist.
Yes, I know this is a really lame thing to get upset about, but it irks me for some reason.
The subject of selling naming rights to Lambeau were brought up by team management in a “we don’t want to rule anything out” sort of way. But I think the recent stock sales and the county tax (that voters actually approved!) that financed the latest expansions make it extremely unlikely for the time being.
Unfortunately, Rogers Centre is not named after Ted Rogers, but instead for the company his family founded: Rogers Communications. As the link demonstrates, the Rogers company does cellphones, internet, and if memory serves, remains the biggest cable provider in southern Ontario. SkyDome (opened in 1989) was just SkyDome until the Rogers company bought the stadium in 2005 (cite).
Heck, if Rogers Communications didn’t buy the SkyDome and slap its name on it in order to advertise themselves, the building might well have been something like the TD Bank Dome, or the Tim Hortons Dome, or the Petro-Canada Dome, or similar.
You could make a case that Wrigley Field was a pioneer in using a ballpark name to advertise. The Cubs played there for 10 seasons before it was renamed Wrigley Field. It’s likely that William Wrigley did that at least in part to bring attention to his chewing gum business (although there’s probably some ego here as well). If Wrigley Field qualifies as a non-corporate name, then Busch Stadium - all three incarnations - should qualify as well.
There’s Candlestick Park. It did have corporate names for several years (as 3com Park and Monster Park) but it’s reverted to its original name. But it’s scheduled for demolition at the end of this year.
Does Ralph Wilson Stadium count? It’s named for the team’s owner.
Ironically, it was one of the first stadiums to have a corporate name, with the naming rights bought by Rich Products for a relatively small sum back in 1972. When that contract expired in 1997, Rich Products couldn’t afford to renew the naming rights and Rich Stadium changed its name. (The original contract cost Rich Products $1,500,000 for a twenty-five year contract or $60,000 a year. The average naming rights contract now cost $2,900,000 a year. Reliant Energy paid $300,000,000 for a thirty year contract.)
There was a hilarious exchange from Skip Carey & company about the 3Com name back when the SF Giants were still playing there. The Braves were in town and the other broadcaster asked Carey,“What they hell is 3 Com?”. Carey relied, “That’s easy. Lenin, Trotsky & Stalin.”
Nationals Park
Angel Stadium of Anaheim O.co (ugh) / Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
Georgia Dome (Falcons)
Lambeau Field
Paul Brown Stadium (Bengals)
Ralph Wilson Stadium (Bills)
The language barrier makes it slightly less apparent than it should be, but Wankdorf stadium in Bern led to this headline, still the greatest ever written about soccer.
PGE Park in Portland is now known as JELD-WEN Field, a name that just rolls off the tongue.
I was living in Dallas when they revealed the new name. There was lots of speculation about what to call it - most people wanted Arlington Stadium or Vandergriff Field, after the mayor that moved the Washington Senators from DC.
When they unveiled the name, which at the time was “The Ballpark In Arlington” without tha Rangers in there, everyone was pretty irritated b/c it was so uncreative and vanilla. IIRC a local bar changed their name as a joke to “The Bar In Plano.” BTW, the person behind approving this amazing bit of creativity was George W Bush.
Of course, the name grew on everyone and people revolted when they renamed it Ameriquest field, then after mortgage companies were no longer big business, they changed it back.
Pirates fans weren’t thrilled with PNC park, or PINK park, as some called it early on. I think everyone got used to it pretty fast, and got on with the important business of dealing with a 20-year losing streak.
