Take me out to the…?
March 7th, 2008
When I turned 30, I made a list of 30 things I was proud that I had done in my life… and 30 things that I still wanted to do. One of those things was to spend a summer going to a baseball game in every major league park. But what used to sound like my ideal summer – 3 months of “strike three”, double plays, and cracker jacks – is slowly losing its appeal.
Yes… part of it is this steroid ridiculousness (that I still can’t believe we’re spending our tax dollars on). There’s no question that it puts a damper on the love of game - or at least debating its statistics, a passion for every true baseball fan. But it’s also because one by one these special green spaces with their beautifully groomed fields and pristine white base lines are selling out.
Comiskey is now “The Cell”. “The Jake” is now Progressive Field. And now, I am saddened to learn that yet another field is considering selling its naming rights to a corporate sponsor.
Not just any field, mind you. Wrigley - one of the oldest, most hallowed fields in the country. Second only to the cathedral of baseball itself, Yankee stadium.
Now I know that just because the stadium changes its name shouldn’t affect my experience at the park. And I recognize that over a long enough period of time, fans will eventually adapt and embrace the new name. Wrigley is, in fact, the third name for that ballpark. So why do I feel just a little bit emptier and less excited? Why does it feel tainted to have a corporate sponsor in the mix? (Ok, yes, Wrigley was a corporate name too – as is Turner – but in both cases they were also club owners.)
It’s very likely that no matter who purchases the naming rights to Wrigley, fans will keep calling it Wrigley. Look at Candlestick. They’ve gone through 3 name changes – and everybody still calls it Candlestick. The name is so ingrained, that when the naming right for Monster Park expire this June, it will go back to being just Candlestick. Same for College bowl games – does anyone know who the sponsor for the Sugar bowl is? It was just 2 months ago and everybody I asked yesterday said Nokia. Wrong – it’s Allstate. Nobody really cares because all of us in the south do, and always will call it simply the Sugar bowl, or the Orange bowl, or the Cotton bowl. Of course, I did have a special fondness for the Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl which, alas, no longer exists.
Spike suggested that whomever purchases the rights keeps the name Wrigley. It would certainly appease the fans and leave a nice warm fuzzy feeling for the new owner. But would that fuzzy feeling translate into the bottom line? The sad reality is probably not, at least not in the long term.
So for now I guess I’ll just have to settle for the new reality of baseball. We live in a steroids era where corporate dollars are necessary to pay ARod his $275 million contract. At least the uniforms don’t say “Chico’s bail bonds” on the back!
Other posts by Justine.
linkerjpatrick says:
Naming rights can be a two edged sword. For one It’s a great way to get funding but sometimes the name just doesn’t fit. Take Greenville’s own, Bi-Lo Center. Almost everyone I know hates the name because it sound like a mega grocery store instead of an entertainment arena. I’d much rather respect a company that in those cases would do something like “The Upstate Arena - Sponsored by Bi-Lo” or something to that effect. You could always keep the official name and change the sponsor if need be. I don’t think most people would care either way.
Wrigley while certain named after the gum is also a family name with historical significance. The Peace Center while getting it’s names from the major benefactor also recognizes not only a local and historically influential family but the name “Peace” is a word that can have another meaning too. The same is true with the Liberty Bridge at Falls Park.
Maybe companies, especially startups, should think long and hard about their names because the day may come when their name may just be associated with a product but it’s much better to associate it with an idea and identity that has sticking power and affection in the minds of the public.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:13 amKyle says:
The Northsiders will still draw the drunken hording masses no matter what Wrigley is called. Whether that translates to dollars to the new corporate sponsor, we’ll have to wait and see.
What I’m afraid of is advertisements on the uniforms. That will be next.
March 10th, 2008 at 5:18 amBeth says:
Our beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs announcer, Larry Munson, had a famous call at the 1982 Auburn game that clinched the Sugar Bowl for us, when he exclaimed (as the Georgia faithful tossed sugar into the air)… “Look at the sugar FALLING OUT OF THE SKY!!! Oh, look at the sugar falling out of the sky!!!” Several years later, we were playing in the Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl, and we were paraphrasing Larry’s call with “Look at the Weedeaters falling out of the sky!” Ouch. The Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl just didn’t have the right ring to it…
March 10th, 2008 at 7:38 amJustine says:
Thank you for that morning laugh Beth. You are so right - probably the reason I liked the Poulan Weedeater bowl is exactly because it was just so random. To the earlier point - NO fit at all between the sponsor and the event.
Probably one of the best “fits” out there is Tositos and the Fiesta bowl. Which was carefully chosen to help launch the chips brand - and was a huge marketing success from what I’ve read.
PS I share your fear Kyle re: ads on the uniforms. Or worse yet, ads on the field for TV viewers - a la the blue first down line in football. Yikes.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:01 amMike says:
In Detroit after Comerica Bank bought the naming rights to the new Tiger Stadium, they spent 2 summers trying to make it fun by calling it “the COPA”. Get it? Ain’t that just charming? Fans didn’t buy it because it was so forced. Most people I know still call it Tiger Stadium, eventhough the original Tiger Stadium sits abandoned only a few short miles away. Then finally last summer, Comerica Bank announced they were moving their headquarters out of Detroit and down to Texas. Naming rights have just gotten ridiculous.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:11 am