RE: Arena/Stadium naming rights

General
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This was discussed on the latest Dynamite review. John is being stubborn regarding this issue. In the early 90’s Oklahoma City built an area and it was originally called the Ford Center, later renamed to the Chesapeake Arena (Peake for locals) during the oil boom. Oil has busted and this year was named the Paycom Center (after the local billionaire-ran payroll center).

I came to OKC about 7 years ago. NOBODY called it the Ford Center unless it was to disrespect Chesapeake for their “practices”. Soon the majority will stop calling it the Peake and will move on to the next nickname or even full name. That’s how life works.

Stubborness is refusing to change with the times and instead insisting that since you may be comfortable with the old name or since you may have an affinity for the old name you will not change AND potentially confuse others. Everyone isn’t as smart as the next person or as invested in landmarks. As professional wrestling fans we should know this. Folks out of the loop of wrestling refer to the WWE as WWF all the time as as they’re unaware of the changes BUT us current fans reference the correct name as it’s been such since what, 2002? Nearly two decades.

Sure, the Cowboys play at AT&T Stadium, but the new stadium is called AT&T Stadium. Just call it AT&T stadium. Never cared about the Sky Dome but if you’re talking to someone who isn’t on the same page as you it’s only right to give the explanation that it USED to be called the Sky Dome so when they search for it they can quickly move on.

Honor the past, but don’t let it hurt your hands. Let go. Staples will now be the Crypto.com. It’d take days for it to just be “The Crypto”. I’m sure that’s the game plan for the subtle marketing of it. One day we may see some magical wrestling in “The Crypto”.

Thank you for reading.

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Feels very late 90s ish where .com = stadium naming rights. That ended well. Shout out Continental Airlines Arena!

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To be fair I think it depends a lot on how long something is under one name and if the old name was a brand name or something else. Like if say Fenway Park suddenly became Crypto field I’m sure many would hold onto the old name for a long time. It takes a while for people to adapt to these kinds of changes.

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I enjoyed reading your perspective, Cam. I’m afraid I completely disagree with your take, though. (In a polite way, of course. :grinning:)

While I agree that if you’re typing the arena name into Google Maps it’s best to go with the current branded name, outside of that I don’t think it’s necessary. I also don’t believe that by not following the latest sponsorship name to a tee it causes mass confusion. Like if you’re new to Oklahoma City, odds are you can probably sort out what arena the Thunder play in without needing to know who owns the naming rights. Is it the big sports arena in town? Probably!

It’s not my or your job as a consumer to pay fealty to whatever dipshit company buys the naming rights for the building. I don’t owe it to Crypto bros to s their promotional d for being the chosen advertiser for a large arena.

I think it’s perfectly fine for people not to always go with the corporate sponsor name. Otherwise it’s like expecting a fan to refer to every WWE event by its title sponsor. “Who could forget the Montreal Screwjob at the infamous Milton Bradley’s Karate Fighters Survivor Series?” etc.

I say it’s a-okay to use the branded arena/stadium name if you want, I just don’t buy that it’s somehow actively harmful if you don’t.

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