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Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280
^^^ Great example of why your arguement is wrong right there at the end. Sports fields get renamed (and even rebuilt) all of the time and the brand name and image isn't tarnished.
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^ "Great example of why your argument is wrong" right there in your 2nd sentence. Yankee Stadium would have probably the most lucrative naming rights of any stadium in the country, and even the greedy Yankees/Steinbrenners opted to preserve the historic name. Did I mention they tore down the stadium and built a different one on a different site? Still kept the name. Probably a similar situation for Fenway and Wrigley. But sports stadiums are not an ideal comparison, since MLB, NFL, etc. promote their sports as a whole so you have no choice but to go to whatever stadium's available, so yes, Citifield can replace Shea. Marshall Field's is a slightly better comparison, and lo and behold, Macy's has failed to attract patrons to some extent. However, Sears is even more susceptible to name recognition, since department store shopping is at least a necessity on certain occasions, while there can be zillions of vacation activities competing for one's time.
Just to be clear, I'm not arguing that the whole world will take no interest in a "Willis Tower"; I'm trying to emphasize only that recognition and interest in that big black tower, and what it means to Chicago and architecture, will drop off to a noticeable degree, so squandering the beyond-national
household name-recognition is foolish.
It sort of reverts to a local/regional landmark, rather than continuing as a historic global landmark aging in a stately fashion through its autumn years, like say Chrysler. And now that it will be the world's #5 or the country's #2 etc., there
won't be enough impetus for the new name to stick. So why kill off the history?
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Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280
People don't know about Sears Tower because its named Sears Tower,
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Well many people across the country and the world do know only the name and maybe that it's a tall building, somewhere in America. They might not know it's in Chicago, and they might not be able to pick it out of a lineup. If gramps tells junior all about the Sears Tower during Thanksgiving dinner in Tampa, junior has never seen it but is already aware of its iconic existence. Repeat example on BBC radio in Edinburgh, in a textbook in Beijing, in a pop song in Delhi, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280
I would like to point out that renaming Sears Tower to another name in exchange for profit is the most Chicago solution here. Chicago is what it is because Chicago was and still is to some extent the most Capitalist city in the world. Chicago rose out of the mud in a storm of raw Capitalist fervor, it is only right that the names of our star buildings go to the highest bidder...
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Without revisiting the above comments regarding whether the Sears Tower name is important enough to want to preserve, and taking your capitalism comment by itself, I suspect you may reconsider when you reread your paragraph later. This whole forum has little reason for existence if the mantra of all things urban is "maximization of profit" (like blank parking podiums and drive-thru banks). Shall we rename Wrigley and Tribune next? Michigan Avenue and Grant Park too? How about the Statue of Liberty or Bunker Hill? Permanence and continuity of culture and history tie together the generations and are part of the essence of civilization.