Goring the sport

First Stadiums, Now Teams Take a Corporate Identity

The Times: Sports fans have long been accustomed to stadiums and arenas taking on corporate brand names. Consider Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals play, the Washington Redskins's FedEx Field and, of course, the home of the Houston Astros, known briefly as Enron Field.

But the recent purchase of a Major League Soccer team by the energy drink company Red Bull has taken naming rights a step further. This month, the soccer team formerly known as the MetroStars converted to the New York Red Bulls.

It is a name change that some marketers hope will open a new front in the commercialization of professional sports.

Hmm, I've been waiting for this to happen. It definitely crosses a line; my hope is that in 20 years we won't look back on this as a non-event. Like how very few people now remember that the NHL's Anaheim Mighty Ducks are named after a Disney film.

Whenever I watch old sporting events on ESPN Classics, it strikes me how clean--or bare--the field, stands, uniforms looked. And the telecasts themselves, my gosh; so uncluttered, simple, straightforward.

It looks strange, but in a sad way, like I wish it didn't look strange. My hope, actually, is that a bunchof companies name teams after themselves, and then the teams go out and play horribly or the athletes go crazy and embarass the companies.

I do think professional athletes in the four major sports will resent playing for a team named after a beer or something. There's still something about comradery and the linkage between a team and its city that's pretty powerful.

After all, studies have shown teams who wear black play differently and are perceived differently by officials; ultimately big companies may well have to choose between fielding a team of winners, or one of schills.

In the meantime, I think sports journalists should just keep calling New York's MLS team the Metro Stars. Just like the Denver Post refused to call Mile High stadium Investco Field. Heck, if a company wants advertising in the media, it generally has to pay the media company for it, and it runs clearly defined as an ad, not mixed in with editorial content.

New soccer team logo via the Times.