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Five sports stadiums that should be renamed
Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue now, does it? Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images

Five sports stadiums that should be renamed

What’s in a stadium name? For the past two decades, usually millions of sponsorship dollars, self-created nicknames no one uses and some hubris when a shady company goes belly-up in the name of fraud. The wide majority of major league sports venues are named after corporations big and small, with a good chunk of them having to be renamed over the years because of company mergers, bankruptcies and in the case of Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park), the most infamous accounting fraud scandal in United States history.

It would be nice if big-time sports scaled back on corporate naming rights, but once teams learned how to sell pieces of their identities to companies desperate to “connect to consumers,” that ship sailed. However, there are a few that would benefit from another name change because either the current name just ­­sounds awkward, is a call to a sponsor’s demise or a reminder of how much the public’s faith in that brand has eroded.

Denver Broncos: Sports Authority Field at Mile High


Sports Authority, the athletic goods store, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2016 and largely liquidated its assets throughout the spring and summer. Dick’s Sporting Goods purchased the intellectual property and brand name of Sports Authority, so while you can expect the naming rights to also be part of the deal, the Sports Authority name remains for the time being.

What if the Broncos decided to go a completely different direction when it’s time to change the name? One would say that naming the stadium after its greatest player, John Elway, would be an incredible honor. Yet, even he would probably prefer that the homage go to someone else he may feel is much more worthy, principal owner Pat Bowlen.

Bowlen had stepped down as team CEO in 2014 due to the progression of Alzheimer’s, but he remains a beloved figure in the Denver community thanks to the team’s success: three Super Bowl titles, seven of the team’s eight AFC championships, 18 playoff appearances and the NFL’s highest winning percentage since he took over the team in 1984. As any great franchise, a steady hand at the top allows for its success. For the Broncos, there may not be a more profound and sensible way to celebrate that by renaming the stadium in Bowlen’s honor.

New York Mets: Citi Field


One of the loudest cries in recent memory about stadium naming rights took place when the Metropolitans opened up Citi Field in 2009. There was a double offense taken as not only did the mostly publicly funded new ballpark open during the recession, but it adorned the name of a financial services company that twice accepted rescue funds from the federal government during the recession ($45 billion worth of TARP funds, in fact). Though the naming rights were secured in 2006, breaking the deal would have created its own set of controversy, even as Citigroup continued to hemorrhage itself.

On top of that, team owner Fred Wilpon’s old Brooklyn Dodgers fandom was the muse of the park’s design, coming at the sacrifice of the Mets’ own identity and history. (This also ignores that while taking on some of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ allure and hawking their merchandise, the Mets borrowed both their interlocking NY logo, orange color scheme and inaugural home, the Polo Grounds, from the former New York Giants.)

While Citigroup has slashed and burned itself to fiscal “recovery” and the Mets traded some of the Dodgers’ influence on the ballpark for their own, a name change would bring back quite a bit of goodwill to the team. What about something as plain as Flushing Field? Sure, it’s not exactly daring, but a significant part of the Mets’ brand is the fact that they made a home separate not only of New York’s former National League teams, but of that team in the Bronx. While not matching the team title for title, Mets fans take a lot of pride in not having the historical arrogance of the Yankees. They even take pride in having the better ballpark, a begrudging admission some fans of the Bronx Bombers concede. In a similar sense to the next team mentioned, renaming the park for its neighborhood forges an even stronger identity in New York-area sports.

Chicago White Sox: US Cellular/Guaranteed Rate Field



Sticking with baseball, if there is one reason to still love the game, it’s that there are still quite a few stadiums that do not have corporate naming rights. Although the Atlanta Braves will break that tradition when leaving for SunTrust Park in 2017, 10 fields will still be named after anything other than some random conglomerate you probably do not conduct business with.

Unfortunately, we can’t replace the Braves in that grouping with the Chicago White Sox, whose US Cellular Field will be renamed Guaranteed Rate Field next season. All jokes aside (and there were plenty of jokes), the Southsiders could have left well alone or dared to revert back to Comiskey Park, which the ballpark is still referred to locally. (Comiskey was the name of the White Sox’s original park as the former owner named it after himself.)

To at least this outsider, being a White Sox fan means that you a) strongly dislike the Cubs and/or b) have some opinions on the North Side/South Side divide in Chicago. What better way to stoke both of those flames than to reach back to the team’s history and rename this awfully branded stadium to the namesake of the franchise’s first three homes, South Side Park?

Similar to the trajectory of aforementioned Polo Grounds, South Side Park has its own unique history with multiple versions of the facility, including the more famous third version where the franchise won its first World Series championship in a crosstown affair against the Cubs in 1906. South Side may probably roll off the tongue a lot better than Comiskey, as Charles Comiskey was a notoriously thrifty owner who essentially compelled the Black Sox scandal.

Detroit Red Wings: Little Caesars Arena



The Red Wings will be moving to the new downtown digs in 2017 after 38 years at Joe Louis Arena, which was named after the legendary heavyweight champion and Detroit native. The Red Wings made quite a mark at the Joe, to the point that the street the arena sits on was renamed after Steve Yzerman, perhaps the second-best player in franchise history.

You think of the Red Wings and Joe Louis Arena as a nearly perfect combination of American might; Louis himself is seen as a symbol of good against the “Axis of Evil,” the Wings as the most successful American franchise in the NHL, both with skilled feet and hands piloting them to the greatest heights. You think of the Red Wings and Little Caesars Arena as some eternal campaign for two medium pizzas, 10 wings and a drink for $12.99. It frighteningly makes sense because of what business consultants would call “synergy” since Mike Ilitch is both the owner of Little Caesars and the Red Wings.

Here’s another case where the Red Wings could tug at the heartstrings a bit by naming the new arena after a legendary figure in the franchise, its greatest player, the late Gordie Howe. After all, it would be hard to deny what he meant to not only the Red Wings, but the NHL and sport of hockey. 

If anything, perhaps the idea of naming the new digs after Little Caesars would be synergistic in another way. The arena is being erected across the way from a baseball park and football stadium, so maybe after getting a car loan from Comerica ('sup, Detroit Tigers) to buy a Ford (hello, Lions), you might spend a few bucks getting some really cheap pizza.

Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers: Wells Fargo Center



Over the years, NBA teams have played in arenas with some particularly bad names. The revolving door of bankrupted companies, merged conglomerates and expired deals provided bold advertising opportunities for enterprising local and regional companies. The New Orleans Pelicans play in Smoothie King Center. Sacramento’s Arco Arena had some truly awful names in recent years, and the Kings will move into a new arena with an iffy moniker. Heck, even Boston’s TD Garden got funky with names in a one-month eBay auction in early 2005 as it was transitioning away from being called the Fleet Center.

Yet, as bad to funny as those names are, none of the current arenas are named after a bank that paid nearly $200 million in fines for an unprecedented scam involving over 5,000 employees and millions of fake bank accounts. On top of the bank’s contentious relationship with the 76ers, the Wells Fargo Center, perhaps more than any other large-scale facility, needs to be renamed post haste.

Unlike the stadiums above that are mostly defined by one team, the history of Philadelphia’s indoor sporting venues was written by so many great former athletes from the Sixers, Flyers and college basketball. Perhaps that’s why adopting its predecessors name, the Spectrum, would fit the bill. First, it’s another throwback to a cherished, if imperfect, piece of Philly’s sports culture. Second, even if a company such as Comcast would affix its name to the Spectrum, it would at least attach itself to a name with meaning to the fans. Finally, with the latest in the long line of scandals from the current naming rights holder, it might be the easiest way for the Sixers and Flyers to distance themselves from a tarnished brand.

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