So why hasn't SJE gotten themselves a jersey sponsor or a new stadium sponsor? It's not like the Santa Clara Valley isn't full of companies looking for pub. I mean, even Spartan Stadium got a naming rights contract, FFS.
They're reportedly currently working on obtaining both a new stadium sponsor and a jersey sleeve sponsor (now that the league is allowing sleeve sponsors). As for a new jersey sponsor... -G
Kinda like when Jonathan Kraft hoodwinked his buddy David Weatherell to pony up the naming rights for the brand-new CMGi field. Problem was, by the time the place was ready to open, the company was bleeding money. It was still called that when the Revs opened up in the spring of 2002, but by the time the Patriots started in August, they got Gillette to slap their name on it. And CMGi went out of business soon after...
At least no one is in a position of "our naming rights deal ended two years ago, but it would cost us too much money to change the name, so we'll just keep it as Toyota Park" that the Village of Bridgeview got itself into.
That was the situation with San Jose/Avaya last year. As part of the bankruptcy process, there was an agreement to cancel the sponsorship at the end of 2018, but the name remained for one more season without payment, probably in vain hope that a new sponsor would cover the name-change costs.
The best naming rights thing was in Buffalo. If I recall, the bank that put their name on the Sabres' arena was bought by another bank. When the acquiring bank tried to get the name changed, they were rebuffed. They had to continue making payments, and the arena had the name of a bank that no longer existed.
I hate the whole thing of naming rights. I get that companies pay for it, but just say the name of the city it's in. There was an ad on the radio for a concert, and I don't remember if they said it was at the Tweeter Center or Verizon Arena. If they said "The Verizon Arena in Manchester NH" i would know it's not at the other place about 2 hours south of there near Foxboro which also has a lot of concerts.
Totally agree. If a corporation that has a tie to the area manages to keep their name on the stadium I'll go with it - like say Coors Field, the baseball stadium in Colorado that has only had one name. But the NFL stadium in Denver, forget it, though at least they keep the Mile High moniker in their name. Others, I don't know where the TD Bank Center arena - so just say NHL arena in ..... The Rapids Park, Dicks, is OK for now because it has only had one name. Sometimes sports teams underestimate keeping the value of reinforcing their brand on their stadium name. Newcastle did this when they sold their stadium name for a few years, and the Chicago White Sox are classic example of doing this. As sports fans, we don't to be reminded we are just consumers of soulless corporate entities, we want to pretend we are part of something immortal.
I mean, for those of us who were around for the early financially unstable days of MLS, we're aware that immortality requires financial spreadsheets.
Looks like Nashville won't be ready for the opener on 2022. https://www.newschannel5.com/news/mls-stadium-construction-may-not-be-complete-for-2022-season Updated completion standings: 1. Lockhart 2.0 (2020: is it done now?) --------- 2. Cincy (2021 opener) 3. Austin (2021 opener) 4. Columbus (summer 2021) ----------- 5. Sacramento (2022 opener) 6. St. Louis (2022 spring?) 7. Nashville (summer 2022) ---------- Citeh & Arsenic Park hopefully next. Or the Fire House.
Looks like Nashville won't be ready for the opener on 2022. https://www.newschannel5.com/news/mls-stadium-construction-may-not-be-complete-for-2022-season Updated completion standings: 1. Lockhart 2.0 (2020: is it done now?) --------- 2. Cincy (2021 opener) 3. Austin (2021 opener) 4. Columbus (summer 2021) ----------- 5. Sacramento (2022 opener) 6. St. Louis (spring 2022) 7. Nashville (summer 2022) ---------- Citeh & Arsenic Park hopefully next. Or the Fire House.
I don't think Sacramento even updates their website. What gives? Aware there was recent tragedy in the Burkle family. Just surprised how little news we get from some of these expansion teams.
Where SRFC is concerned, do not expect to see anything in terms of construction until sometime this summer. Normal construction time frame for this type of stadium, barring unfortunate findings like they've had in San Jose and Columbus, is (give or take) 20 months. Working backward from a March '22 open date, that puts serious construction to begin some time in the June-July '20 time frame. If we have a mild and weather-free winter, like we've had this year, that construction time line slims down to ~~18 months. Supposedly some dirt has been pushed around on the site, but nothing major. One note of caution - the construction of Raley Field (AAA baseball stadium in West Sac) got delayed for ~~3 months because of winter rains, and the Rivercats ended up being out on the road for about the first two months of their first season in Sacramento. SRFC has made it absolutely clear that they will NOT play MLS games at the current stadium at CalExpo. It is my hope that they shoot for a January opening date, and have major steel and concrete completed by October of '21. Never trust Mother Nature to respect your construction timeframe.
St. Louis is moving along. The City is finalizing their tax incentive plan, It passed out of committee two weeks ago, passed preliminary council vote last week (26-1 vote), and is expected to be finalized this week. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local...cle_50c9f4d2-e2fb-5cdd-ba86-dfdb2f70dd72.html https://www.stltoday.com/news/local...cle_1dea641d-030f-52bb-bbad-bc777d2032aa.html Highway off-ramps that need to need removed for the practice facility have been closed, I think some demo has started, but have not been by the site in a week or two. Also, in a weekly chat, one of the local sportswriters said he's hearing early April for a name? announcement.
Not really in the same category, but the Tampa Bay Lightning's home arena's naming rights used to belong to the then St. Petersburg Times, despite the arena itself being in Tampa, not St. Pete, which is across the bay. Totally not confusing to people from out of town, right?
Same thing happened with the Seattle Mariner's ballpark. About halfway through there 20 year naming rights deal, Safeco was bought by Liberty Mutual. The ballpark's name remained Safeco Field until 2018 when Liberty Mutual decided to not try and extend the agreement.
Now would probably be a good time to point out that the Rays are not named after the city of Tampa, rather the body of water that both St. Pete and Tampa border.
Since the "TD" stands for "Toronto Dominion," no one would fault you for thinking the Maple Laffs were the team that played there. Their place used to be called the Air Canada Centre, but I forgot what they call it now. But it's not too far from BMO Field, which stands for Bank of Montreal. And I think there are 2 different NHL arenas called Canadian Tire something-or-other. Just call it "TD Bank Garden in Boston" or BMO Field in Toronto" whenever it isn't local and obvious.
The Toronto arena is now the Scotiabank Arena, sponsored by the former Bank of Nova Scotia, which is headquartered in Toronto. Not to be confused with the Scotiabank Saddledome, nor Scotiabank Place, which is now the Canadian Tire Centre. The NHL also has a Rogers Arena and a Rogers Place, plus a Bell Centre and a Bell MTS Place.