Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I agree, if a venue has to have a corporate name, an actual family name is best followed by appropriate geographic references. Beyond that I'd say that having a corporation with a significant connection to the market is preferable... having super-generic names like "Colisée Pepsi" or "Rogers Place" when there is no particular corporate connection to a city beyond just selling the product there sounds a little goofy.

Ummm... wouldn't "Rogers Place" be excluded from your naming objections since it's an actual family name?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Ummm... wouldn't "Rogers Place" be excluded from your naming objections since it's an actual family name?

To my knowledge it's named after the company (which is obviously named after the founder) and not the family directly.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Yep, they took a big one on the chin with their poor investments in the US. That's what led to their decline. I know - I used to work for them.
However, they're still a very profitable company.



You can say that about any company in many situations. Companies often spend a lot of money just to give their clients the optics of being successful - like building a new high-tech and opulent office. Or when companies making bad investments that cut into their profits. Job cuts often happen as a result.

If Scotiabank didn't spend the 800 million on this, they would've spend it elsewhere... whether it's a better or worse investment... and it probably would also result in layoffs.

Of course however, that's not on subject.

[osmo]

Imagine if Scotiabank took half of that $800 million and built a CFL facility in Halifax and slapped it's name on it, that would be almost too perfect, nobody would object to it. It was be great for these big companies to do something very local with the sports and branding combos.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'm a bit surprised that MLSE is going with "arena" since the risk of that kind of noun is that people will just shorthand it as "meet me at the arena" (or coliseum, or forum). You can't really do that with "place" or "centre".

But speaking of LA, I always thought they had one of the better corporate names on an older venue... the Great Western Forum. When I was a kid I thought it was a geographic reference (like Pacific Coliseum in Van), I didn't realize it was the name of a bank. Corporate names were still uncommon then, of course. But this one was a good fit.


Source: wikipedia

AFAIK, this is the first thing to be branded Scotiabank Arena. There is some sense to that over Scotiabank Centre & Scotiabank Place. "Meet me at the arena" is as ambiguous as those since it's not the only arena in downtown Toronto. (it doesn't matter what you say if the meeting place is also the destination) ACC will live on in shorthand. It just flows so nicely.

[esquire]

^ I suspect that "Scotiabank Arena" was used somewhat reluctantly given that Scotiabank Centre already exists in Halifax, and there was until recently a Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

[FutureSmith]

So does anyone know when the naming rights are up on Vancouver's arena, and whether or not Rogers will re-up now that they have their name on Edmonton's rink?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I agree, if a venue has to have a corporate name, an actual family name is best followed by appropriate geographic references. Beyond that I'd say that having a corporation with a significant connection to the market is preferable... having super-generic names like "Colisée Pepsi" or "Rogers Place" when there is no particular corporate connection to a city beyond just selling the product there sounds a little goofy.

(And yes, it was just "The Forum" or until 1988 when GW bought the naming rights.)

Wasn't it also referred to as the Fabulous Forum? Perhaps not officially.

I also liked Great Western Forum. Had no idea it was a bank, though I figured it was named for some company.

Phoenix has the worst corporate arena names: Talking Stick Resort Arena and Jobing.com Arena.

[FutureSmith]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Phoenix has the worst corporate arena names: Talking Stick Resort Arena and Jobing.com Arena.

Hard to get anyone to sponsor a ghost town

[esquire]

Phoenix has had some terrible names, KFC Yum! Center is another one that stands out for being lame.

[FFX-ME]

Well Nashville's Bridgestone Arena used to be called the Gaylord Entertainment Center...

[Berklon]

The Penguin's "PPG Paints Arena" is a pretty horrible name.
Also "Little Caesars Arena (Red Wings) and Guaranteed Rate Field (Whitesox) aren't much better.

The University of Phoenix Stadium was always a head-scratcher. The University of Phoenix doesn't have a football team playing out of that stadium... in fact, the University doesn't have ANY sports teams.

It's all about who's willing to pay the most.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Berklon

The Penguin's "PPG Paints Arena" is a pretty horrible name.
Also "Little Caesars Arena (Red Wings) and Guaranteed Rate Field (Whitesox) aren't much better.

The University of Phoenix Stadium was always a head-scratcher. The University of Phoenix doesn't have a football team playing out of that stadium... in fact, the University doesn't have ANY sports teams.

It's all about who's willing to pay the most.

lol the University of Phoenix is solely online i think.

Also at least Little Caesars Arena had a connection to Detroit and their late owner.

[esquire]

Until I actually read up on University of Phoenix Stadium I thought the Cardinals just happened to play in some university's venue, as they did at Sun Devils Stadium.

I didn't realize that University of Phoenix was some sort of US-wide distance-education company.

Back when Winnipeg's minor league ballpark was set to open, they were going to call it "Mind Field" (geddit?) after a local computer company. But as legend has it, local political heavyweight Lloyd Axworthy, who had just spearheaded an international treaty against landmines, stepped in. In the end the naming rights went to Canwest Global instead.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by king10

lol the University of Phoenix is solely online i think.

Also at least Little Caesars Arena had a connection to Detroit and their late owner.

I did not know that Mike Illitch was dead until now.

[esquire]

I once attended a baseball game at Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by king10

Also at least Little Caesars Arena had a connection to Detroit and their late owner.

Yup, I'm aware of that connection... but it doesn't make the name any better.
The taxpayers funded that arena after the city declared bankruptcy - they should at least name it after the city or an icon of the city. A total joke that the arena is made in the situation they were in - and I don't buy the whole "it will build up the economy" bullshit).

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Wasn't it also referred to as the Fabulous Forum? Perhaps not officially.

Officially no, colloquially yes. Most commentators of the day would say something like "Welcome to the Fabulous Forum" I think early on Jack Kent Cooke said "Welcome to My Fabulous Forum"

Funny how the penchant for nicknaming arenas seems to have died down. Remember when some people wanted to call GM Place in Vancouver "The Garage" or ACC "The Hangar" and some tried to call THF "The Donut Box" or "Coffee Grounds"

About this whole corporate naming thing, especially the ones that involve the same company; I have to take a second or two to actually figure out where they are talking about. Possibly because I don't follow sports as in depth as when I was younger, I don't make the connection quickly, even the most famous ones.

[drew]

Originally Posted by esquire

Until I actually read up on University of Phoenix Stadium I thought the Cardinals just happened to play in some university's venue, as they did at Sun Devils Stadium.

I didn't realize that University of Phoenix was some sort of US-wide distance-education company.

Back when Winnipeg's minor league ballpark was set to open, they were going to call it "Mind Field" (geddit?) after a local computer company. But as legend has it, local political heavyweight Lloyd Axworthy, who had just spearheaded an international treaty against landmines, stepped in. In the end the naming rights went to Canwest Global instead.

I am pretty sure Mind went tits up before just before the ballpark opened.

[Franco401]

The all-time worst arena/stadium names, off the top of my head:

Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento

Smoothie King Center, New Orleans

Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland

PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh (formerly one of the best possible corporate names, Consol Energy Center)

Little Cesars Arena, Detroit

O.Co Colliseum, Oakland

American Airlines Center/American Airlines Arena, Dallas/Miami (not the only duplicate, but for my money it's worse than the preponderance of Rogers/Bell/Scotiabank names because it's already a mouthful)

Bell MTS Centre, Winnipeg

The Ballpark in Arlington

Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago

Best Names

The Spectrum

Superdome

Pacific Coliseum

Maple Leaf Gardens

United Center

Anything with "Olympic"