職業體育與場館命名

Questions for the many diehard NBA fans here. Can you name a few NBA arenas that do not have corporate sponsorship? Do you know that 7 of the NBA arenas are now named in airlines? And yet, get this: which team plays at American Airlines Arena? And which team plays American Airlines Center?

I am certainly not against commercial sponsorships. In fact, money is probably THE most important driving force for US professionally sports. There is nothing wrong making money, but is it a little bit overkill?

There are a lot of history associated with professional teams and the stadiums they play in. Think about Green Bay Packers, the image of Vince Lombardi and the Ice Bowl jumps into your mind, and of course, the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. Again, if you talk about the Yankees, you know the great championships that they have won, the great players they have had, like the Babe, DiMaggio, Mantle, Lougerig, and Jeter. You would also remember that clear, crisp, chilly October night, at Yankee Stadium – the House that Ruth built – Reggie Jackson’s homerun sailing off into the Bronx’ sky. Well, if you a fan of a majority of other professional sports team, most likely that your teams will play in the state-of-the-art brand stadium equipped with luxury suites, and all the new gadgets that modern technology can offer. Yet, it is never be the same when Detriot Tigers are not playing at Tiger Stadium, Boston Celtics not playing in Boston Garden, LA Lakers not playing at the Great Western Forum, Pittsburgh Steelers not playing at Three Rivers and Denver Broncos not playing at Mile High!

Furthermore, if you look at who these sponsors are, I am also quite baffled. 6 airlines have the naming rights on basketball arenas. What did they think? Fans have to go to the game by air? In addition, airlines are notoriously bad performing companies, with a majority of them on the brink of bankruptcy. Why just don’t give multiple million dollars back to shareholders? Here are a few other companies. At least for American Airlines, could you just have one arena please? Take your pick: Dallas or Miami.

Target Center, come on, you’d better worry about Walmart! Reliant Stadium, please, get you own business fixed please. For Network Associates, Qualcoom, Alltel, U.S. Cellular, SBC, Qwest, I guess the high-tech downtown have not hit you bad enough? The least you can do is to following CMGI whch pulled off the deal with New England Patriots and saved millions.

For companies like Pepsi and Toyota, even though you are successful and financially strong right now, remember Enron had the new ball park in down Houston named Enron Field when it was strong and its stock price went through the roof. You don’t want to be the next Enron and Kenny Boy.

Hey, too much complaints, at least I can still root for Red Sox in Fenway Park, and those ????ed Yankees are still playing in the haunted house of Yankee Stadium.