Stadiums & Arenas of Canada, Part 3 - Page 411

Acajack · #**8201** Posted **Aug 28, 2023, 8:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

When Budweiser Gardens was built, Labatts bought the naming rights and originally called it the John Labatt Centre, in honour of the founder of Labatt's Breweries. Immediately, the popular local rock FM radio morning show branded the place "The John". Fortunately, the nickname never took off.

The John nickname* notwithstanding, John Labatt Centre was one of the more classy arena names in Canada.

*Arena and stadium nicknames only rarely take off in Canada, it seems. The Big O(we) is the one that comes to mind. Though it's never used in French. Also Le Vieux Bob, for the old Centre Robert-Guertin in Gatineau (Hull). Have the names for Tim Hortons Field taken off? Thinking of The Coffee Grounds or The Donut Box?

My personal favourite: La Bombonera in Buenos Aires.

elly63 · #**8202** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 12:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Everyone knows the real toilet bowl is in Regina

That could have been Winnipeg. Does anybody remember the stadium proposal from Canad Inns CEO Leo Ledohowski

A couple of things, thanks to media moving and deleting webpages and the death of an image host I used to use, I can no longer find any pictures of this design. I may have some on an old hard drive somewhere.

Now the history is lost, that's why important articles should be posted in a way to preserve the history because the online newspapers won't.

The images I had weren't blurry like this and IIRC there wasn't a Winnipeg logo. Also, I don't think it was a dome it was more like Mosaic and looking even more so like a toilet bowl. If I find the images someday, I'll post them.

ScreamingViking · #**8203** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 1:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

Have the names for Tim Hortons Field taken off? Thinking of The Coffee Grounds or The Donut Box?

Not really, at least among my group of fans and I've not seen those nicknames used much, though there are news stories that make the reference.

Dollars to doughnuts it will "officially" be called something else when the current deal expires. I believe naming rights were for 10 years but I may be wrong... so in 2025 we may see Meridian Stadium or FirstOntario Field; and Rogers doesn't have a cable presence in Hamilton so I don't think the likelihood of yet another facility bearing that name will be large. The big banks haven't waded in locally either, to date.

Djeffery · #**8204** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 1:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Not really, at least among my group of fans and I've not seen those nicknames used much, though there are news stories that make the reference.

Dollars to doughnuts it will "officially" be called something else when the current deal expires. I believe naming rights were for 10 years but I may be wrong... so in 2025 we may see Meridian Stadium or FirstOntario Field; and Rogers doesn't have a cable presence in Hamilton so I don't think the likelihood of yet another facility bearing that name will be large. The big banks haven't waded in locally either, to date.

I look forward to all the "it will always be Tim Hortons Field to me" folks. I just love to see the whining from people upset that one corporate name is swapped for another. It's not like a historic name was replaced.

esquire · #**8205** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 1:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

The images I had weren't blurry like this and IIRC there wasn't a Winnipeg logo. Also, I don't think it was a dome it was more like Mosaic and looking even more so like a toilet bowl. If I find the images someday, I'll post them.

The difference, of course, is that Winnipeg didn't actually build a toilet stadium

Berklon · #**8206** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 1:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Dollars to doughnuts it will "officially" be called something else when the current deal expires. I believe naming rights were for 10 years but I may be wrong... so in 2025 we may see Meridian Stadium or FirstOntario Field; and Rogers doesn't have a cable presence in Hamilton so I don't think the likelihood of yet another facility bearing that name will be large. The big banks haven't waded in locally either, to date.

Rogers cable isn't available everywhere in Hamilton, but there are areas they offer cable services to.

ScreamingViking · #**8207** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

It's not like a historic name was replaced.

And they finally put the name Ivor Wynne on the press box, as was intended from the beginning for the new stadium. It's really prominent too, at the south end of the west stands... at least I notice it every time I go by, much more so than I notice "Tim Hortons"

ScreamingViking · #**8208** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berklon

Rogers cable isn't available everywhere in Hamilton, but there are areas they offer cable services to.

Thanks. I had thought Cogeco has the city wrapped up.

I don't know about Rogers' mobile market though. So maybe they will have an interest in yet another Rogers moniker on a sports facility.

elly63 · #**8209** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

The difference, of course, is that Winnipeg didn't actually build a toilet stadium

That's true, they built the second best stadium in Canada.

J.OT13 · #**8210** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 12:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Not really, at least among my group of fans and I've not seen those nicknames used much, though there are news stories that make the reference.

Dollars to doughnuts it will "officially" be called something else when the current deal expires. I believe naming rights were for 10 years but I may be wrong... so in 2025 we may see Meridian Stadium or FirstOntario Field; and Rogers doesn't have a cable presence in Hamilton so I don't think the likelihood of yet another facility bearing that name will be large. The big banks haven't waded in locally either, to date.

Didn't stop Shaw from buying the naming rights on Ottawa's Convention Centre.

How is Rogers not in Hamilton?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I look forward to all the "it will always be Tim Hortons Field to me" folks. I just love to see the whining from people upset that one corporate name is swapped for another. It's not like a historic name was replaced.

I'm guilty of that with the Corel Centre and Molson Centre, along with the Skydome (but that I'm sure is justified).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

And they finally put the name Ivor Wynne on the press box, as was intended from the beginning for the new stadium. It's really prominent too, at the south end of the west stands... at least I notice it every time I go by, much more so than I notice "Tim Hortons"

In Ottawa, they put in a statue of Frank Claire (Rough Riders coach 1956-1959, name of the stadium 1993 to 2014). I do like Hamilton's approach of displaying the name prominently on the stadium.

Acajack · #**8211** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 12:54 PM**

It takes time for me to get used to new names but it's not really deliberate anachronism in my case.

The most evident one is SkyDome which I still use all the time as "Rogers Centre" isn't intuitive to me as a name for a large stadium. "Centre" to me is a name that fits an arena.

The Canadian Tire Centre seems to have changed names so many times that I've lost track so I generally refer to it as "the Senators' arena".

I'd do the same for the Leafs' and Canucks' arena, and many others which I've lost track of.

Still good with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

I probably wouldn't switch either if Commonwealth Stadium and BC Place got new corporate names.

jonny24 · #**8212** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Not really, at least among my group of fans and I've not seen those nicknames used much, though there are news stories that make the reference.

Dollars to doughnuts it will "officially" be called something else when the current deal expires. I believe naming rights were for 10 years but I may be wrong... so in 2025 we may see Meridian Stadium or FirstOntario Field; and Rogers doesn't have a cable presence in Hamilton so I don't think the likelihood of yet another facility bearing that name will be large. The big banks haven't waded in locally either, to date.

My bet is Stelco Stadium now that they're part of the ownership group.

Berklon · #**8213** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

How is Rogers not in Hamilton?

As I replied earlier, Rogers cable IS available in Hamilton. They just don't have as large a footprint for cable services as Cogeco does.

Djeffery · #**8214** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

It takes for me to get used to new names but it's not really deliberate anachronism in my case.

The most evident one is SkyDome which I still use all the time as "Rogers Centre" isn't intuitive to me as a name for a large stadium. "Centre" to me is a name that fits an arena.

The Canadian Tire Centre seems to have changed names so many times that I've lost track so I generally refer to it as "the Senators' arena".

I'd do the same for the Leafs' and Canucks' arena, and many others which I've lost track of.

Still good with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

I probably wouldn't switch either if Commonwealth Stadium and BC Place got new corporate names.

I remember back when the web domain name for Rogers Centre was registered. In London, there was a lot of speculation of what our new arena was going to be called. Someone on a local message board had searched a bunch of business names with "centre" and "arena" and discovered rogerscentre.com had recently been registered. So they were convinced this was the name of what became the John Labatt Centre. This was only a year or so after Rogers had bought the Blue Jays and they didn't yet own the SkyDome (for a few more years actually) so this was obviously some foresight by Rogers to secure that domain name. I imagine that their early intent was to buy the naming rights of the stadium but then the opportunity to just buy the stadium itself came up.

Berklon · #**8215** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 2:59 PM**

If Rogers intends to pay for naming rights to more arenas and stadiums, they're going to run out of standard names and will need to start doubling up. "Rogers Place Centre"... "Rogers Arena Place"... "Rogers Field Place".

esquire · #**8216** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 3:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berklon

If Rogers intends to pay for naming rights to more arenas and stadiums, they're going to run out of standard names and will need to start doubling up. "Rogers Place Centre"... "Rogers Arena Place"... "Rogers Field Place".

Rogers Events Centre
Rogers Sports Facility
Rogers Mass Gathering Venue #16

If there's one company that knows how to endear itself to the public, it's Rogers

Djeffery · #**8217** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 3:49 PM**

Rogers is also much more than a cable company. That said, I don't see why they would buy the naming rights for a CFL stadium, especially one that is home to the main competitor of the team they partially own (for now anyway).

elly63 · #**8218** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 3:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny24

My bet is Stelco Stadium now that they're part of the ownership group.

I was going to say that

Acajack · #**8219** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 3:59 PM**

Good name for a football stadium.

J.OT13 · #**8220** Posted **Aug 29, 2023, 4:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berklon

As I replied earlier, Rogers cable IS available in Hamilton. They just don't have as large a footprint for cable services as Cogeco does.

Sorry, meant to say more limited presence. I would have thought Rogers was 100% available in an urban area so close to Toronto.

In any case, I very much dislike Rogers and plastering their name everywhere does nothing but grow my hostility towards them.