I have never lived in Germany either. Also: Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, and Lucille LeSueur have never been in my kitchen.
“Uh...OK. The Industrial Revolution to me is just like a story I know called ‘The Puppy Who Lost His Way.’ The world was changing, and the puppy was getting...bigger. [later] So, you see, the puppy was like industry. In that, they were both lost in the woods. And nobody, especially the little boy—‘society’—knew where to find ‘em. Except that the puppy was a dog. But the industry, my friends, that was a revolution.”
I used to think about it this way. I used to play basketball with a kid growing up who used to average over 30 points a game. The problem was that if he actually could shoot the ball at a decent percentage, he should have had 50 per game. Jeff had 7 assists that year but he probably should have had twice as much. We'll never know though.
I posted this in the TV thread, but this championship... the staff doing corporate sales must be shocked at their good fortune. We've not yet announced the stadium naming rights or any real details of '21 corporate sponsorships. But the defending MLS champions get a lot of national TV coverage. The new optimistic me now thinks we have a shot at getting the US-Mexico qualifier. It's suddenly become a lot easier to convince corporate partners that they want to be associated with this team. Have their company's name on display in the stadium, on our jersey, etc.
I told Mook last night as we were standing there freezing in the upper deck that never in their wildest dreams did MAPFRE insurance think that they'd get anything like the national exposure they got from naming Crew stadium.
Just got a text from a friend driving by stadium and they are taking Mapfre off of it. Interesting timing. wondering if Ohio Health will get that exposure or if they will try to sell it to someone else. Also wondering if/when they will have something on new stadium naming rights.
I would have thought it would have been up until December 31. But... Knew it was coming, as the deal was over.
It was announced as a multi-million dollar, multi-year agreement in March 2015. At some point, it must have been shared that the agreement ended after this season, but I don't recall where/when.
As much as we (appropriately) fixate on the stadium project, the timeline for the training facility is probably at least as important to the club. Who knows the status of our day-to-day (or whatever) lease at Obetz. No announcement yet about when the '21 MLS season will start, or the first round of next year's CCL. But there will be pressure on this club to be up and running earlier than normally is the case. How they do that, while we're all still living under a COVID cloud, is anyone's guess. Anyway, the training facility isn't supposed to be ready until about the same time the stadium is. And the part of the project that includes a turf field and seasonal bubble over the stadium formerly known as "Mapfre" sound like they won't happen until after the rest of the training facility is done. Fast forward a year (maybe?) and you can see how such a facility would be hugely important in an off season like this: Heated grass fields that allow for cold weather outdoor training. Seasonal bubble over turf field that means the weather can never completely shut down training. State of the art training facility for the MLS, developmental and academy teams. It'll be interesting to see what the club or league announces in the coming weeks about training for 2021. Maybe the Crew - or all 2021 CCL clubs as part of a league-coordinated program - announces a warm weather, bubble training camp. Just spitballing, of course. Covid makes this all so much more complicated. But this does highlight what a huge change the Ohio Health Performance Center will be for this organization. Eventually.
I believe when the jersey and training facility sponsorships was announced, it was said that Nationwide had signed on as shirt sponsor, but has to wait until the Mapfre deal was done at the end of the season. Hence paying for this season but donating the space to the Children's Hospital. I think it was mentioned again when Ohio Health was announced as sponsor of the Performance Center.
I recall these being assumptions based on pointed comments from management about sponsor-category exclusivity being the problem with announcing a shirt sponsor. ie you cant have MAPFRE on the stadium and Nationwide on the shirts. Like I said, I dont recall it being announced that way, it was more a case of us internet layabouts connecting the dots. Which brings up a question though: if, as appears increasingly likely, the Crew will have to play a couple home games before Downtown is ready (and I'm holding on to my prediction that AEP will be the naming partner) then what will be the name.of the stadium formerly known as MAPFRE when those games are.played?