Re: Commercial facility names on non-commercial stations

[Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@yahoo.com>]

--- Sean Smyth <ssmyth@suscom.net> wrote:
> Dan Billings writes:
> > In one city, I think it was Denver, the local
> newspaper refuses to call
> the
> > stadium by its new commercial name.

Chicago's Comiskey Park is being renamed to promote a
cellphone company....San Francisco's PacBell (Pacific
Bell) Park opened just a few years ago but I believe
their name is already outdated (isn't PacBell now
SBC?)-- I think they're keeping the PacBell name,
though.

The new Patriots stadium had its name changed at the
last minute, from CMGI to Gillette. The current home
of the Bruins and Patriots was all set to be
Shawmut Center, then Fleet took over that bank.

And I wouldn't put it past the Sox ownership to do a
naming rights deal; but I'd suppose people would still
call it "Fenway Park" even if a new name were
to arise. 

It amounts to yet another plug for companies (along
with concert facilities which also bear corporate
names). Someone doing a TV or
radio broadcast of a game would be sure to mention the
corporate name a few times (and perhaps their
contract may even stipulate that they do this:
"Time now for the fourth inning here at Coors
Field, with the Rockies leading 3-2..." They'd
have to say Coors Field every three innings,
for example.)

So, just another way for advertisers to get their
product name out there. Of course, sometimes a name is
used _so_ much that it almost becomes a slang
word for the product itself. You might tell someone
"I'm gonna grab a Coke" (even though you might get a
different cola instead), or, "Make a Xerox of
that" (but the copier may be a different brand).