Corporate names alter
face of pro sports arenas
By Vince D’Adamo
Staff Writer
In an effort to boost the bottom line,
professional sports teams have been
changing the names of stadiums and
arenas to reflect corporate sponsorship.
And fans are not happy.
Sitting in the stands at the newly
renamed 3COM Park in San Francisco,
Ken Bettinelli, a Napa, Calif., native,
said the name Candlestick Park was
special to the fans.
“It’s a disgrace to the fans, the city,
and the team,” Bettinelli said. “It will
always be Candlestick and I will keep
calling it that.”
Corporate named stadiums are be
coming more and more prevalent.
In the NBA, the Chicago Bulls home
arena is called the United Center, after
United Airlines. The Utah Jazz play
their home games at the Delta Center in
Salt Lake City, a major headquarters of
Delta Airlines.
Also the in the NBA, Vancouver,
British Columbia’s Vancouver Grizzlies
play their home contests at General
Motors Arena. In Boston, the Boston
Garden was tom down and replaced by
the Fleet Center last year.
At the turn of the century, the San
Francisco Giants baseball team will
have a new privately financed ballpark
called Pacific Bell Park. The Giants will
receive $50 million for the new water
front ballpark.
However, without corporate spon
sorship, the new Giants stadium would
be a dream. San Franciscans have re
jected proposals for a new stadium five
times in ten years.
Some name changes, like the one in
San Francisco, have tried to keep some
of the old name. The renamed Candle
stick Park is 3COM Park at Candlestick
Point, named for Santa Clara, Calif.
based 3COM, one of the world’s larg
est computer-part manufacturers.
3COM Park was originally named
Candlestick Park because of it’s loca
tion on Candlestick Point. The name
was given to the stadium before the
Giants played their first baseball game
after moving from New York in 1958.
Renaming home stadiums has also
taken place in other places.
In East Rutherford, New Jersey,
the NBA’s Nets and NHL’s Devils
home arena, Brendan Byrne Arena,
was named Continental Arena last
April just prior to the NCAA Final Four.
Byrne, a former New Jersey governor
and namesake of the arena, is still living.
In Landover, Maryland, the NBA’s
Washington Bullets and NHL’s Wash
ington Capitals played their home
games at the Capital Center. However,
in 1995, it became US Air Arena.
A primary reason for the name
change was because USAir offered
free airfare for the Bullets and Capitals
if the name change took place.
The NFL’s Indianapolis Colts used
to play in the Hoosier Dome. It is now
the RCA Dome.
And the Colorado Rockies play on
Coors Field in Denver.
While no stadium names have been
changed, college sports are relying
more and more on advertising rev
enues to fund programs.
Nebraska recently added the
HuskerVision screens and evdry re
play is sponsored by a different adver
tiser — a source of revenue never
before available to NU.
With professional and college
sports costs on the rise, the trend of
corporate involvement in stadiums is
unlikely to stop. Without the added
revenues, stadium renovations would
not get funding.
But fans like Bettinelli, who still
come out to the parks, don’t like the
change.
“Kicking down cash for a stadium
name is one thing,” Bettinelli said,
“but once you name a stadium don’t
change it.”
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Continued from Page 4
part of the Washington based non
profitpolitical watch-group, the Cen
ter for Responsive Politics, said elec
tion complaints were not uncommon.
“We’ll see a lot of complaints
from a lot of groups; opposing
groups and some outside groups,
good government groups,” she said.
As soon as the complaint is filed
with the FEC, it becomes confiden
tial. The commission then investi
gates the allegations and if four of
six FEC boardmembers vote in favor
of a violation, the FEC then starts
negotiating with the candidate.
The FEC cannot fine a candidate.
We won’t hear anything about this
complaint until well after the elections.
LISA ROSENBERG
Director, FEC Watch
The commission must negotiate
with the candidate on a civil penalty
— a monetary penalty. If no agree
ment can be reached, the FEC must
go to federal court to prove the law
was broken.
Rosenberg said the process could
take more than a year to complete.
“We won’t hear anything about
this complaint until well after die elec
tions,” she said. “There is no chance.”
Hardin Quirk agreed.
“Its wishful thinking that it will
happen during this election cycle,”
she said.
However, Rosenberg said some
politicians and campaigns are not
afraid of election law violations.
“Some of these campaigns will
see these as the cost of doing busi
ness,” she said. “They are not much
of a deterrent. More of a deterrent is
the kind of publicity of a complaint
like this will get.”
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