(08-25-2023 12:27 PM)Just Joe Wrote:  

(08-25-2023 12:24 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  

(08-25-2023 12:03 PM)Just Joe Wrote:  Yes I know it's the way of the world at this point. Even still, it seems cheap and minor league in the world of big time college football, particularly since it's erasing an existing name. I don't think you'll see Bryant-Denny, Michigan Stadium, Ohio Stadium or most major programs doing this.

It's a matter of how much clout a department has to turn away these offers. Notre Dame Stadium not only has no corporate sponsorship, it doesn't allow advertising anywhere inside the stadium, not even the concession stands (at least pre-COVID when I visited there).

Which leads to the inevitable question: for how much would a school change its mascot or even its name for money?

Hardee's/Carl's Jr. Institute of Technology in Georgia has a ring to it.

...I would say this - every situation would have it's price... whenever Saban retires and spends more effort with his "current and future enterprises", I wouldn't be surprised if they grab that big ol' Mercedes 'hood ornament' they had sitting atop the Legion Field scoreboard back in the 2000's and plop it somewhere in or around Bryant-Denny, IF the price is right... maybe not an 'official stadium name change' or anything, but... you never know...

ADD - ...because they HAVE to have Saban's name SOMEwhere in the official stadium title, amirite?

Tennessee just sold naming rights for their basketball arena. It is now Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.

https://utsports.com/news/2023/8/23/gene...-deal.aspx

(08-25-2023 12:30 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(08-25-2023 12:24 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  Which leads to the inevitable question: for how much would a school change its mascot or even its name for money?

How much money?
Which school?

Keep in mind when you talk the academic side of the house you're talking several standard deviations larger financial footprint.

A few million a year isn't going to move a university with a billion+ dollar endowment. Now somebody like Presbyterian College or Gardner-Webb .... hi

It’s ironic that for as much as American sports organizations crassly chase the almighty dollar, we’re really prudish about sponsorships of team names and uniforms. Meanwhile, the English Premier League players are walking billboards while Japanese baseball teams refer to their corporate owners as opposed to their home cities. (For example, see the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, as opposed to the Osaka Hawks.)

(08-25-2023 11:50 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Hyundai Field may not be historic, but it is lucrative.

If you're mad over stadium names I don't know how you've made it this far. There isn't anything sacred left and hasn't been for years now.

The GTAA retains the right to reference BDS@HGF and put a historical site on the stadium grounds relating to Grant Field.

You might have got an uproar 20 years ago. Today you'll get much more of an uproar about the pay disparity between the ACC and SEC/B1G. Which this helps address.

Can't argue with that!!!

(08-25-2023 12:03 PM)Lord2FLI Wrote:  Eh, wouldn't worry too much, Memphis' stadium is called Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, we still call it the Liberty Bowl, I suspect we always will. If the old name is entrenched, fans are going to call it what they've always called it.

That’s the rub. Once a stadium opens and has a memorable name for 10+ years it’s very hard to get people to actually call it that beyond official signage and TV broadcasts, at that points it’s just a brand awareness tactic for the sponsors (or a pet project for a wealthy corporate executive who really likes the team). Change the name of the St. Louis Blues arena from Scottrade to Enterprise Center and people change over time because that arena hasn’t had a memorable name; change from Grant Field to Hyundai and people won’t change in everyday conversation.

(08-25-2023 01:07 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  It’s ironic that for as much as American sports organizations crassly chase the almighty dollar, we’re really prudish about sponsorships of team names and uniforms. Meanwhile, the English Premier League players are walking billboards while Japanese baseball teams refer to their corporate owners as opposed to their home cities. (For example, see the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, as opposed to the Osaka Hawks.)

True, but who can beat the pageantry of Thailand Tobacco Monopoly FC?

The way things are going though I wouldn’t be surprised if US pro leagues keeps increasing ad space on uniforms ala Europe. NBA has big logos on jerseys, NHL has ads on helmets (and the ridiculous side board graphics), you could very easily add ads to MLB/NFL jerseys and helmets as well.

AT&T pays big bucks to the Cowboys and everyone calls it JerryWorld.

(08-25-2023 12:03 PM)Just Joe Wrote:  

(08-25-2023 11:50 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Hyundai Field may not be historic, but it is lucrative.

If you're mad over stadium names I don't know how you've made it this far. There isn't anything sacred left and hasn't been for years now.

The GTAA retains the right to reference BDS@HGF and put a historical site on the stadium grounds relating to Grant Field.

You might have got an uproar 20 years ago. Today you'll get much more of an uproar about the pay disparity between the ACC and SEC/B1G. Which this helps address.

Just a few years ago there was an uproar over renaming the LA Coliseum and it ended up with a compromise. United Airlines Field at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

Yes I know it's the way of the world at this point. Even still, it seems cheap and minor league in the world of big time college football, particularly since it's erasing an existing name. I don't think you'll see Bryant-Denny, Michigan Stadium, Ohio Stadium or most major programs doing this.

Ohio State took money from Safelite AutoGlass last year to rename the field

https://www.thelantern.com/2022/08/footb...o-stadium/



OTOH, Michigan Stadium still seems to leave additional revenue out as there's little advertising inside the stadium bowl. The team beverage, doctor tent, headsets seems to be allowed outside of the apparel maker. Michigan video boards don't have permanent advertising, but the PA guy announces sponsors. Compared to Ohio State, they leave millions of dollarsof revenue off their books.

When I saw this deal, I thought "I wish my school could get a national car brand to give us a naming rights deal for our stadium."

But Alas, VT has already sold their naming rights, to the Stadium and Field, to donors decades ago.

(08-30-2023 12:20 AM)ChrisLords Wrote:  When I saw this deal, I thought "I wish my school could get a national car brand to give us a naming rights deal for our stadium."

But Alas, VT has already sold their naming rights, to the Stadium and Field, to donors decades ago.

How long should a stadium be named for a person just because he gave a bunch of money to the university? Is there anything special about your stadium’s namesakes that it would be heresy to remove them for a company that wants to give you more money?

(08-30-2023 04:40 AM)AssKickingChicken Wrote:  

(08-30-2023 12:20 AM)ChrisLords Wrote:  When I saw this deal, I thought "I wish my school could get a national car brand to give us a naming rights deal for our stadium."

But Alas, VT has already sold their naming rights, to the Stadium and Field, to donors decades ago.

How long should a stadium be named for a person just because he gave a bunch of money to the university? Is there anything special about your stadium’s namesakes that it would be heresy to remove them for a company that wants to give you more money?

If it's tied to an endowment, then the name represents a gift that keeps on giving. And even if someone came along with an offer that was worthwhile handing the endowment back in a narrow sense, in a broader sense it advertises to alumni writing their wills now and in the future that a big enough gift in their wills can get their name a permanent spot on their old alma mater, so it probably still wouldn't even make financial sense to change the name.

(08-25-2023 12:11 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(08-25-2023 11:41 AM)Just Joe Wrote:  I'd missed this latest instance of a naming rights disgrace. Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field was one of the best venue names in all of sports. Was there any uproar or blowback from the fan base?

Joe, I wonder if this will feel very odd to Hyundai every week when a Model A Ford Coupe is driven out onto the field to start the game? Coolest car in college football and captures the spirit of college perfectly! I find this arrangement awkward.

Maybe they’ll add a Hyundai logo to the Rambling Wreck for branding purposes.

Hyundai is building a $5.5 billion plant in southeast Georgia. Its an EV plant.

Georgia Tech is going to be highly involved in training/technology, etc...for Hyundai.

https://news.gatech.edu/news/2023/08/08/...artnership

(08-30-2023 04:40 AM)AssKickingChicken Wrote:  

(08-30-2023 12:20 AM)ChrisLords Wrote:  When I saw this deal, I thought "I wish my school could get a national car brand to give us a naming rights deal for our stadium."

But Alas, VT has already sold their naming rights, to the Stadium and Field, to donors decades ago.

How long should a stadium be named for a person just because he gave a bunch of money to the university? Is there anything special about your stadium’s namesakes that it would be heresy to remove them for a company that wants to give you more money?

Hofheinz Pavilion at the University of Houston was named after (Judge) Roy Hofheinz donated $1.5 million in 1967. Hofheinz was largely responsible for building the Astrodome (he had an eclectic suite at the Dome, which Bob Hope described as being decorated in Early King Farouk, and an apartment at the Astrohotel which Elvis Presley thought to be too gaudy).

In 2015 Hofheinz Pavilion was redeveloped for $60 million and renamed Fertitta Center in honor of Tilman Fertitta who donated $20 million. The Hofheinz objected to the renaming. Judge Hofheinz and his son Fred had both been mayor of Houston, and Judge Hofheinz's children were well known in Houston.

As a compromise, UH built Hofheinz Plaza near the Fertitta Center, and petitioned to have the street outside renamed after Hofheinz though that did not happen. UH also created a special section at the library to house Hofheinz's papers.

The court in the Fertitta Center is named after Coach Guy V Lewis who coached both Elvin Hayes in the Game of the Century at the Astrodome and the Phi Slamma Jamma teams. Hayes incidentally does the color commentary for Cougar home games.