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Astros Field to Be Minute Maid Park
MICHAEL A. LUTZ
AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) - The Houston Astros' stadium, without a corporate name since the team bought back the naming rights from bankrupt Enron Corp., will be called Minute Maid Park under a deal announced Wednesday.

The Minute Maid Co., based in Houston, since 1960 has been a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co., based in Atlanta.

"The company is a new partnership but an old friend," Astros owner Drayton McLane said, noting the parent company has been involved with the team since Houston began playing major league baseball in 1962.

"They're very stable," McLane added. "This was very important."

It gives baseball a second park with a juice company sponsor. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays play in Tropicana Field, sponsored by Florida-based Tropicana Products Inc., a division of Coca-Cola rival PepsiCo.

Tropicana is the nation's largest juice maker. Minute Maid is No. 2.

The Astros' new stadium opened in 2000 as Enron Field but McLane bought out the 30-year, $100 million naming rights deal in February and quickly pulled hundreds of signs bearing the failed energy trading giant's name.

In the interim, the park has been known as Astros Field.

The Astros had listened to proposals from a number of other companies, including Conoco Inc., Landry's Seafood Restaurants Inc., and Gallery Furniture, all based in Houston.

The Astros are not alone in shuffling stadium names.

The Baltimore Ravens renamed their field Ravens Stadium after its former corporate sponsor, PSINet went bankrupt.

In Philadelphia, the home of the NHL Flyers and NBA 76ers soon will get its third name since the arena opened in 1996.
I just had one of these to celebrate:

[Image: drinkminutemaidorange6-12oz.gif]

-JD
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