Texas Rangers fans are pissed — and understandably so. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has a new name: Globe Life Park in Arlington.
Booooooooo.
Fans in Texas took to Twitter on voice their complaints about the change while folks like HardballTalk.com’s Craig Caltcaterra questioned their whining. Truthfully, I get both sides of it. Wrigley Field, Busch Stadium, PNC Park, Petco Park — I mean, they all sound natural at this point, right? But what if Camden Yards got changed to something like GEICO Park at Camden Yards? I’d lose my marbles.
While doing a little Googling, I discovered a piece from ABCNews.com written on July 18, 2000 about a potential corporate sponsorship for our beloved stadium.
The Baltimore Orioles could be headed down a well-traveled road — selling their ballpark’s name to a corporate sponsor.
They have spent eight years in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. But now, with baseball’s fourth-highest payroll, they are exploring ways to raise money as they enter arbitration with the Maryland Stadium Authority, owner of the stadium.
The Baltimore Ravens paid the stadium authority $10 million for the naming rights for their new stadium, then earned $105.5 million over 20 years in their deal with the computer services firm PSINet. The Ravens’ contract also included sports marketing agreements that take advantage of the PSINet’s tech-related businesses.
Interestingly, the Orioles previously would have had to pay the Maryland Stadium Authority to make a change to the stadium name. I’m not sure if that part of their deal is still in place.
Also, fourth-highest payroll! LOLZ!
