Park Nomenclature

[Edgy MD]

I was thinking of the Tigers, wondering what exactly "Comerica" was, and so decided to sort out all the ballpark names and figure out which sectors are doing the sponsoring.

[TABLE][TR][/TR][/TABLE]

[TD]Commercially Named Ballparks (21) Banking (Saving and Lending) Institutions (7): Chase Field (Diamondbacks) Citizens Bank Park (Phillies) Citi Field (Mets) Comerica Park (Tigers) Guaranteed Rate Field (White Sox) Loan Depot Park (Marlins) PNC Park (Pirates) Truist Park (Braves) Brewers (1): Coors Field (Rockies) Communications and Media (3): RingCentral Coliseum (Athletics) Rogers Center (Blue Jays) T-Mobile Park (Mariners) Insurers (4): American Family Field (Brewers) Globe Life Field (Rangers) Great American Ballpark (Reds) Progressive Field (Guardians) Food and Soft Drinks (2) Minute Maid Park (Astros) Tropicana Field (Rays) Retailers (2): PetCo Park (Padres) Target Field (Twins) Tech (1): Oracle Park (Giants)[/TD]

[TD]=#FF4000]Non-Commercially Named Ballparks (9) Executive Names (3): Busch Stadium III (Cardinals [semi-Commercial]) Kauffman Stadium (Royals) Wrigley Field (Cubs [semi-Commercial]) Neighborhoods (1): Fenway Park (Red Sox [semi-Commercial in Origin]) Team Names (5): Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Angels) Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) Nationals Park (Nationals) Orioles Park at Camden Yards (Orioles) Yankee Stadium III (Yankees)[/TD]

Some takeaways:



1) Banking institutions are concentrated in the East, with four of the five NL East teams playing in a bank ballpark. It'd be interesting if the sectors continued to concentrate in the same division, but probably unlikely.



2) Insurers start to appear in the mid-west, but Kansas City, which has traditionally been the hub of the insurance industry, has no name sponsor on their ballpark.



3) I'm mostly ignorant on where corporate sectors divide. Maybe banking institutions and insurers shouldn't be all that separate. The red arc in the Citigroup logo (and Citi Field logo) is there because Citi Corps owns what had been Travelers Insurance, so they are way up there in that game also. Maybe big tech and communications shouldn't be distinguished. Maybe brewers should be with the soft drink folks. I dunno, but I divided it the way I did.



4) That said, the brewing sector seemed to be an obvious match and growing sector for ballpark naming partnerships, but now we're down to one brewery-named stadium and one stadium named for a team owner who also put the same name on his brewery.



5) Nine holdouts on corporate naming rights exist. But three of them retain traditional names that were kind of developed way back when as commercial names. I'm sure the Cards must get $$ from InBev and probably the Cubs get money from the gum people, but I'm treating them as non-commercial in this exercise for whatever reason.



6) Along with Comerica, I previously did not know who Rogers or RingCentral were, and I was only making assumptions (correctly, it turns out) about who Great American and American Family were.



7) I guess corporate naming sponsorship is not as tasteless if the corporation has "America" in their name.



8) Retail seems an undertapped market. While brick-and-mortar retailers are shrinking online retailers like Amazon or Chewy would seem to be a match, as well as brick-and-mortars successfully transitioning to ever-bigger online sales, such as IKEA or BestBuy. Where's big box hardware?



9) Big Pharma on the outside looking in, thank God.



10) Film studios, streaming services, sugary beverages, and sports shoes/apparel also somehow not in the game. Big tire, big auto, and lawn and garden are also biding their time.

[kcmets]

I'll take Payson Field at Shea Stadium next go around, please.

[G-Fafif]

Slide the Oakland Coliseum back into the column of the righteous.

Oakland Coliseum as of April 1 has “axed its branding as RingCentral Coliseum and is now officially called the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum,” according to Barreira & Leuty of the S.F. BUSINESS TIMES. The deal appears to have been “terminated two years early” after it “began a 36-month naming rights agreement in April 2022.” RingCentral did not respond to questions about the "circumstances that led to the dissolution of the deal” or “how much money it would save from the early exit.” The company was to pay about $1.1M per year as “part of the rights purchase made in Jan. 2021," and also “agreed to a prepayment of $450,000 to be amortized over the duration of the three-year term.” For the FY ending in June 2022, the Coliseum Authority recorded $517,500 “in revenue attributed to ‘naming allowance.'” The A's finished last in attendance of all 30 MLB teams in 2022, with an “average home crowd of 9,973 across 81 games at the 63,000-seat stadium.” In spite of this, the Coliseum also “achieved its ‘highest grossing event in Coliseum history'” over the summer at a “sold-out Bad Bunny concert that had more than 40,000 in attendance" (S.F. BUSINESS TIMES, 4/13).

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2023/04/14/Facilities/oakland-coliseum-ringcentral.aspxhttps://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2023/04/14/Facilities/oakland-coliseum-ringcentral.aspx

[nymr83]

As far as corporate names go, Citi Field isn't a bad one at all, mostly because when you talk about it you are saying (and maybe even thinking) "city field" - the true corporate nature of the name is obscured

[ashie62]

As a financial institution Regional Bank Comerica could lose the Tigers naming rights if the banking trend continues

[MFS62]

My Canadian baseball fan friend (coincidentally named Greg Rogers) spells it Rogers Centre.

Rogers is a big Canadian telecom company and he always complains to them about his monthly cable bill. He thinks he should get a discount because of his name.



When I was a kid, I liked to draw pictures of the major league baseball parks.

Now, I can't even name half of them.



Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

I willfully ignore most of the stadium names and mentally refer to them by the stadium names of my youth. As far as I'm concerned, the Phillies still play in Veterans Stadium; the Pirates in Three Rivers, etc., etc. I have no idea what the actual current names are of most of baseball's present stadiums and have long lost interest in making even a minimal effort to keep up. They might as well have their stadium name signage made of velcro.



A stadium's name should be somewhat permanent and evoke some meaningful connection to the team that plays there instead of some lawnmower. Like Dodger Stadium. Or Wrigley Field. Or, yuck, Yankee Stadium. The name shouldn't remind us that everything's for sale.



Would you like it if your brother changed his first name every two years?

[nymr83]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=124134 time=1683070269 user_id=68]
I willfully ignore most of the stadium names and mentally refer to them by the stadium names of my youth. As far as I'm concerned, the Phillies still play in Veterans Stadium; the Pirates in Three Rivers, etc., etc. I have no idea what the actual current names are of most of baseball's present stadiums and have long lost interest in making even a minimal effort to keep up. They might as well have their stadium name signage made of velcro.



A stadium's name should be somewhat permanent and evoke some meaningful connection to the team that plays there instead of some lawnmower. Like Dodger Stadium. Or Wrigley Field. Or, yuck, Yankee Stadium. The name shouldn't remind us that everything's for sale.



Would you like it if your brother changed his first name every two years?

[Edgy MD]

I'm still waiting for the Lebanon Baloney people to get into the stadium-naming-rights game.

[whippoorwill]

That would be In Philadelphia



(Seltzers)

[stevejrogers]

AFAI Can Recall Anyway, there has been only one FTX like controversy in MLB stadium naming history.



That being energy company Enron going belly up on the Astros, forcing them to go shopping again a couple of years into the park's existence and settling on a Coca-cola subsidiary, Minute Maid.

[Frayed Knot]

Parc Nomenclateur would be a great name for the stadium for a Montreal expansion team.

[stevejrogers]

Comerica does sound suspiciously like Kramer's “company” Kramerica on Seinfeld.

[Fman99]

Agreed that Citi Field is close enough to a generically named "City Field" that I find it mostly unintrusive. I like the Great American Ballpark for the same reason.

[Lefty Specialist]

I still call it Pac Bell Park even though it's been SBC Park, AT&T Park and Oracle Park in the years since.

[Benjamin Grimm]

These are the stadium names I have in the UMDB. (See below.)



For those that had a non-corporate name, even briefly, (such as in Houston) I stick with that name forever. (Anaheim, White Sox, Cleveland, Miami, Toronto.)



I really haven't been paying close attention to these sponsored names. Looking at Edgy's list, I see that some of these are out of date. (Phoenix, Atlanta, Seattle, Milwaukee, and San Francisco.) And also that I'm going to have to add a new stadium for the Rangers for 2024 when the Mets play a road game against them.



For some of these, I'm tempted to go with the stadium address instead of an ever-changing corporate name.



Seattle would be 1250 1st Ave South.

The Giants would be 24 Willie Mays Plaza.

The Diamondbacks play at 401 E Jefferson Street.

The stadium in Milwaukee is at 1 Brewers Way.

And the Braves are at 755 Battery Ave SE.

	Angels Stadium		Anaheim, CA
	Astros Field		Houston, TX
	Ballpark in Arlington		Arlington, TX
	Bank One Ballpark		Phoenix, AZ
	Busch Stadium II		St. Louis, MO
	Camden Yards		Baltimore, MD
	Citi Field		Flushing, NY
	Citizens Bank Park		Philadelphia, PA
	Comerica Park		Detroit, MI
	Comiskey Park II		Chicago, IL
	Coors Field		Denver, CO
	Dodger Stadium		Los Angeles, CA
	Fenway Park		Boston, MA
	Great American Ball Park		Cincinnati, OH
	Jacobs Field		Cleveland, OH
	Kauffman Stadium		Kansas City, MO
	Marlins Park		Miami, FL
	Miller Park		Milwaukee, WI
	Nationals Park		Washington, DC
	Oakland Coliseum		Oakland, CA
	PETCO Park		San Diego, CA
	PNC Park		Pittsburgh, PA
	Pacific Bell Park		San Francisco, CA
	Safeco Field		Seattle, WA
	Skydome		Toronto, ON
	SunTrust Park		Atlanta, GA
	Target Field		Minneapolis, MN
	Tropicana Field		St. Petersburg, FL
	Wrigley Field		Chicago, IL
	Yankee Stadium III		Bronx, NY

[Frayed Knot]

The Braves play at Truist Park, Truist being the corporate overlord of Suntrust which held the name for only the first a year or two of that park.

And, if you want to further correct your list, it's also not in Atlanta.

[Edgy MD]

=stevejrogers post_id=124157 time=1683115927 user_id=57]
AFAI Can Recall Anyway, there has been only one FTX like controversy in MLB stadium naming history.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy MD wrote: =stevejrogers post_id=124157 time=1683115927 user_id=57] AFAI Can Recall Anyway, there has been only one FTX like controversy in MLB stadium naming history.

I'm not sure what qualifies as a controversy. It's all pretty controversial from my perspective.



The parade of sponsors that piled brand on brand on top of Joe Robbie Stadium was a debacle that had the Marlins playing in a stadium that had three different names in one season.

[vtmet7]

=stevejrogers post_id=124160 time=1683116139 user_id=57]
Comerica does sound suspiciously like Kramer's “company” Kramerica on Seinfeld.

[vtmet7]

Agreed that Citi Field is close enough to a generically named "City Field" that I find it mostly unintrusive. I like the Great American Ballpark for the same reason.

in the earlier stages of Citi Field (when it sucked the power out of the team's bats, and looked like Fred's wetdream of his cherished dodgers, but almost no hint of the Mets or Giants), I used to call it Shitty Field...



There have been some chatter lately that Cohen has looked into putting a retractable roof onto CouponField, but found that it would cost 8 times more than if Freddie boy had done it at construction time....IMO, the money would be better spent by Cohen tearing down the house that Fred built and building "Point 72 Retractable Dome at Willets Point", and making it pretty obvious from the beginning that it's a METS stadium and not some lame tribute to a team that abandoned Brooklyn

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Roofed stadiums suck

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't believe I've ever attended a game that was played under a roof. I went to two games in Seattle in 2014, but for both games the weather was fair and the roof remained open.



I also attended a game in Olympic Stadium in Montreal, but that was long after the roof stopped functioning.

[Edgy MD]

It's sort of why I retain suspicion of inserting a clock in baseball. The roof seemingly solves a problem (a handful of rainouts and postponements each year) with no regard for everything that is lost as part of the solution. It took us decades to realize what was sacrificed by moving baseball indoors.



Let's not go back.

[Fman99]

Edgy MD wrote: It's sort of why I retain suspicion of inserting a clock in baseball. The roof seemingly solves a problem (a handful of rainouts and postponements each year) with no regard for everything that is lost as part of the solution. It took us decades to realize what was sacrificed by moving baseball indoors. Let's not go back.

It's pretty stupid that they keep the roof closed every day in Phoenix and Miami just because it's hot outside. Babies.

[whippoorwill]

They can send some frigging heat here

[Frayed Knot]

It's pretty stupid that they keep the roof closed every day in Phoenix and Miami just because it's hot outside. Babies.

At least back when they had Johnson & Shilling the DBacks used to let that night's starting pitcher decide whether it would be open roof or closed and they'd always pick closed

because the ball tended to travel less far, or at least they believed it did. Not sure if there was data to back that up or not.

But in post-season, specifically 2001, MLB was calling the shots and they decided that the roof would stay open, probably for aesthetic reasons but also because it was November

by that point. So after allowing a HR the cameras clearly caught R.J., never exactly Mr. Warmth to begin with, mouthing "close the fucking roof!" for all viewers to see (I claim no

talent in reading lips but even I could read that one).

Of course in the famous 9th inning of Game 7 it actually started to drizzle in Phoenix possibly contributing to Mariano's foot slipping as he tried for a force play at 2B on a bunt

resulting in a poor throw and a start to the game/WS-winning rally. So the open-roof breaks wound up going both ways as a result.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Edgy MD wrote: It's sort of why I retain suspicion of inserting a clock in baseball. The roof seemingly solves a problem (a handful of rainouts and postponements each year) with no regard for everything that is lost as part of the solution. It took us decades to realize what was sacrificed by moving baseball indoors. Let's not go back. It's pretty stupid that they keep the roof closed every day in Phoenix and Miami just because it's hot outside. Babies.

For the game I saw in Miami this year, it was sunny and 70 degrees for a day game - and the roof was closed. I thought, if it closed today, when would you ever open it?

[stevejrogers]

Frayed Knot wrote: Of course in the famous 9th inning of Game 7 it actually started to drizzle in Phoenix possibly contributing to Mariano's foot slipping as he tried for a force play at 2B on a bunt resulting in a poor throw and a start to the game/WS-winning rally. So the open-roof breaks wound up going both ways as a result.

You failed to make a “Soft Rain” quip!



BTW, I'm making plans to be in Phoenix when the Mets are.



Checked out the prices for the pool area at Chase…let's just say, and I guess now that I think of it probably understandable from liability standpoints, but it's cheaper to get inside Citi Field's new Speakeasy Club, than it is getting in that pool area!

[stevejrogers]

Other names for all 30 current ballparks

Wrigley Field

Weeghman Park 1914-1920

Cubs Park 1920-1926

Wrigley Field 1927-



Angel Stadium of Anaheim

Anaheim Stadium 1966-1997

Edison International Field 1998-2003

Angel Stadium 2004-



Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 1966–1998

Network Associates Coliseum 1998–2004

McAfee Coliseum 2004–2008

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 2008-2011

Overstock.com Coliseum May 2011

O.co Coliseum 2011–2016

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 2016–2019

RingCentral Coliseum 2019-

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 2020-



Kauffman Stadium

Royals Stadium 1973-1993

Kauffman Stadium 1994-



Rogers Centre

SkyDome 1989-2005

Rogers Centre 2006-



Guarantee Rate Field

Comiskey Park II 1991-2003

U.S. Cellular Field 2003-2016

Guaranteed Rate Field 2017-



Progressive Field

Jacobs Field 1994-2007

Progressive Field 2008-



Chase Field

Bank One Ballpark 1998-2005

Chase Field 2006-



T-Mobile Park

Safeco Field 1999-2018

T-Mobile Park 2019-



Oracle Park

Pacific Bell Park 2000-2003

SBC Park 2004-2005

AT&T Park 2006-2018

Oracle Park 2019



Minute Maid Park

Ballpark at Union Station 2000

Enron Field 2000-2002

Astros Field 2002

Minute Maid Park 2002-



LoanDepot Park

Marlins Park 2012-2020

LoanDepot Park 2021-



Truist Park

SunTrust Park 2017-2019

Truist Park 2020



American Family Field

Miller Park 2001-2020

American Family Field 2021-



Still with the same name

Fenway Park 1912-

West Coast Death Star 1962-

Oriole Park at Camden Yards 1992-

Coors Field 1995-

Tropicana Field 1998-*

Comerica Park 2000-

PNC Park 2001-

Great American Ballpark 2003-

Citizens Bank Ballpark 2004-

Petco Park 2004-

Busch Stadium III 2006-

Nationals Park 2008-

Death Star III 2009-

Citi Field 2009-

Target Field 2010-

Globe Life Field 2020-



* Little bit of a cheat as it existed for about a decade as a pre-built stadium to lure a franchise, I think at least the Mariners and Giants over the years. And it was known as SunCoast Dome, and even ThunderDome as it was the original home of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lighting. But it has retained the same name since the start of the Rays franchise.