In the U.S. sports stadiums are becoming ads, so to speak; that is, the team owners are selling the name of the stadium to companies, such as Minute Maid Orange Juice or U.S. Cellular. While the old names often had historical meaning, the new names are just stupid, IMHO.

However, recently it hasn't been so easy. With companies merging or going out of business, these stadium names are changing. For Example, Houston's Enron Field became Minute Maid Park (what a ridiculous name! ). The SF Giants have have had it the worst, though; their stadium name has changed 3 times in 5 years! Pacific Bell Park gave way to SBC Park, and next season it will be AT&T.

The funniest new name could have been had by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They used to have Bank One Ballpark (or BOB). However, Bank One was bought by JP Morgan Chase and will be named Chase Field. Why didn't they think when they renamed it? It could have been "The Morg"!

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The funniest new name could have been had by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They used to have Bank One Ballpark (or BOB). However, Bank One was bought by JP Morgan Chase and will be named Chase Field. Why didn't they think when they renamed it? It could have been "The Morg"!

Morgues are usually cold; Southern Arid Zone is not cold. They should name that stadium HELL!!!

Oh, don't forget Wrigley Field. Product names ain't new!

Well, Asa, Wrigley was named after the family that owned them, not the product; similarly Comisky Park was named for the family that owned the White Sox...before they sold their soul to Cellular One. While the Cubs' administration have flubbed a lot of things, at least they haven't sold their name!

[Waiting for Sean's reply... ]

First of all, Charles Comiskey was not a nice fellow. It was more out of respect for the stadium name than the man it was named after that we didn't want to sell it.

The Cubs make a significantly larger amount of money ever year than the Sox do, so their need for such things is less. Let's not forget them extorting the owners of the neighboring rooftops into paying them money, in one of the sleaziest moves by a baseball team ever.

It makes me sad that the 2 groups of Chicago fans hate each other so...but happy that there is only 1 of all the other Chicago professional teams.

I know that this happens elsewhere, too. I was driving through NY once when their sports station was ranting against the Mets. As in Chicago, they have a supportive station for each team.

Anyway, Sean, this Cubs fan agrees with you about the "extortion." I also, however, feel that the city of Chicago had no right to disallow the Cubs to use lights at night. They own the property after all. I get tired of so much governmental intervention. I also think that the city of Chicago has no legal right to allow only residents with permits to park in the neighborhoods. These residents don't own the streets, after all.

Off my soapbox! Sorry!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

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While the old names often had historical meaning, the new names are just stupid, IMHO. ... the Arizona Diamondbacks used to have Bank One Ballpark. However, Bank One was bought by JP Morgan Chase. Why didn't they think when they renamed it? It could have been "The Morg"!

Oddities can also occur when a team moves but keeps its old name.

For example, Minnesota is called the "land of 10,000 lakes", a slogan that appears on its auto license plates. (The state has, I find, almost 12,000 lakes of more than 10 acres.) So it made sense to call the Minneapolis, Minnesota basketball team the Lakers. But then the team moved to Los Angeles, and is now the Los Angeles Lakers -- odd, because nature gave Los Angeles very little fresh water.

So too, it made sense to name New Orleans' basketball team the Jazz. But the team is now in Utah, which is extremely Mormon, prohibits liquor, and has only a very small black population. The current name, Utah Jazz, is almost an oxymoron.