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Park Nomenclature

Edgy MD May 02 2023 04:20 PM

I was thinking of the Tigers, wondering what exactly "Comerica" was, and so decided to sort out all the ballpark names and figure out which sectors are doing the sponsoring. [TABLE][TR][/TR][/TABLE] [TD]Commercially Named Ballparks (21) Banking (Saving and Lending) Institutions (7): Chase Field (Diamondbacks) Citizens Bank Park (Phillies) Citi Field (Mets) Comerica Park (Tigers) Guaranteed Rate Field (White Sox) Loan Depot Park (Marlins) PNC Park (Pirates) Truist Park (Braves) Brewers (1): Coors Field (Rockies) Communications and Media (3): RingCentral Coliseum (Athletics) Rogers Center (Blue Jays) T-Mobile Park (Mariners) Insurers (4): American Family Field (Brewers) Globe Life Field (Rangers) Great American Ballpark (Reds) Progressive Field (Guardians) Food and Soft Drinks (2) Minute Maid Park (Astros) Tropicana Field (Rays) Retailers (2): PetCo Park (Padres) Target Field (Twins) Tech (1): Oracle Park (Giants)[/TD] [TD]=#FF4000]Non-Commercially Named Ballparks (9) Executive Names (3): Busch Stadium III (Cardinals [Semi-Commercial]) Kauffman Stadium (Royals) Wrigley Field (Cubs [Semi-Commercial]) Neighborhoods (1): Fenway Park (Red Sox [Semi-Commercial in Origin]) Team Names (5): Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Angels) Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) Nationals Park (Nationals) Orioles Park at Camden Yards (Orioles) Yankee Stadium III (Yankees)[/TD] Some takeaways: 1) Banking institutions are concentrated in the East, with four of the five NL East teams playing in a bank ballpark. It'd be interesting if the sectors continued to concentrate in the same division, but probably unlikely. 2) Insurers start to appear in the mid-west, but Kansas City, which has traditionally been the hub of the insurance industry, has no name sponsor on their ballpark. 3) I'm mostly ignorant on where corporate sectors divide. Maybe banking institutions and insurers shouldn't be all that separate. The red arc in the Citigroup logo (and Citi Field logo) is there because Citi Corps owns what had been Travelers Insurance, so they are way up there in that game also. Maybe big tech and communications shouldn't be distinguished. Maybe brewers should be with the soft drink folks. I dunno, but I divided it the way I did. 4) That said, the brewing sector seemed to be an obvious match and growing sector for ballpark naming partnerships, but now we're down to one brewery-named stadium and one stadium named for a team owner who also put the same name on his brewery. 5) Nine holdouts on corporate naming rights exist. But three of them retain traditional names that were kind of developed way back when as commercial names. I'm sure the Cards must get $$ from InBev and probably the Cubs get money from the gum people, but I'm treating them as non-commercial in this exercise for whatever reason. 6) Along with Comerica, I previously did not know who Rogers or RingCentral were, and I was only making assumptions (correctly, it turns out) about who Great American and American Family were. 7) I guess corporate naming sponsorship is not as tasteless if the corporation has "America" in their name. 8) Retail seems an undertapped market. While brick-and-mortar retailers are shrinking online retailers like Amazon or Chewy would seem to be a match, as well as brick-and-mortars successfully transitioning to ever-bigger online sales, such as IKEA or BestBuy. Where's big box hardware? 9) Big Pharma on the outside looking in, thank God. 10) Film studios, streaming services, sugary beverages, and sports shoes/apparel also somehow not in the game. Big tire, big auto, and lawn and garden are also biding their time.

kcmets May 02 2023 04:57 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

I'll take Payson Field at Shea Stadium next go around, please.

G-Fafif May 02 2023 05:02 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

Slide the Oakland Coliseum back into the column of the righteous. Oakland Coliseum as of April 1 has “axed its branding as RingCentral Coliseum and is now officially called the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum,” according to Barreira & Leuty of the S.F. BUSINESS TIMES. The deal appears to have been “terminated two years early” after it “began a 36-month naming rights agreement in April 2022.” RingCentral did not respond to questions about the "circumstances that led to the dissolution of the deal” or “how much money it would save from the early exit.” The company was to pay about $1.1M per year as “part of the rights purchase made in Jan. 2021," and also “agreed to a prepayment of $450,000 to be amortized over the duration of the three-year term.” For the FY ending in June 2022, the Coliseum Authority recorded $517,500 “in revenue attributed to ‘naming allowance.'” The A's finished last in attendance of all 30 MLB teams in 2022, with an “average home crowd of 9,973 across 81 games at the 63,000-seat stadium.” In spite of this, the Coliseum also “achieved its ‘highest grossing event in Coliseum history'” over the summer at a “sold-out Bad Bunny concert that had more than 40,000 in attendance" (S.F. BUSINESS TIMES, 4/13). https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2023/04/14/Facilities/oakland-coliseum-ringcentral.aspx

nymr83 May 02 2023 05:06 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

As far as corporate names go, Citi Field isn't a bad one at all, mostly because when you talk about it you are saying (and maybe even thinking) "city field" - the true corporate nature of the name is obscured

ashie62 May 02 2023 05:08 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

As a financial institution Regional Bank Comerica could lose the Tigers naming rights if the banking trend continues

MFS62 May 02 2023 05:12 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

My Canadian baseball fan friend (coincidentally named Greg Rogers) spells it Rogers Centre. Rogers is a big Canadian telecom company and he always complains to them about his monthly cable bill. He thinks he should get a discount because of his name. When I was a kid, I liked to draw pictures of the major league baseball parks. Now, I can't even name half of them. Later

batmagadanleadoff May 02 2023 05:31 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

I willfully ignore most of the stadium names and mentally refer to them by the stadium names of my youth. As far as I'm concerned, the Phillies still play in Veterans Stadium; the Pirates in Three Rivers, etc., etc. I have no idea what the actual current names are of most of baseball's present stadiums and have long lost interest in making even a minimal effort to keep up. They might as well have their stadium name signage made of velcro. A stadium's name should be somewhat permanent and evoke some meaningful connection to the team that plays there instead of some lawnmower. Like Dodger Stadium. Or Wrigley Field. Or, yuck, Yankee Stadium. The name shouldn't remind us that everything's for sale. Would you like it if your brother changed his first name every two years?

nymr83 May 02 2023 07:16 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=124134 time=1683070269 user_id=68] I willfully ignore most of the stadium names and mentally refer to them by the stadium names of my youth. As far as I'm concerned, the Phillies still play in Veterans Stadium; the Pirates in Three Rivers, etc., etc. I have no idea what the actual current names are of most of baseball's present stadiums and have long lost interest in making even a minimal effort to keep up. They might as well have their stadium name signage made of velcro. A stadium's name should be somewhat permanent and evoke some meaningful connection to the team that plays there instead of some lawnmower. Like Dodger Stadium. Or Wrigley Field. Or, yuck, Yankee Stadium. The name shouldn't remind us that everything's for sale. Would you like it if your brother changed his first name every two years?

Well, there are two separate issues. I don't mind most of the corporate names, and as I said I find Citi particularly unobtrusive. Changing the name is a whole different story.

Edgy MD May 02 2023 09:12 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

I'm still waiting for the Lebanon Baloney people to get into the stadium-naming-rights game.

whippoorwill May 03 2023 05:22 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

That would be In Philadelphia (Seltzers)

stevejrogers May 03 2023 06:12 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

AFAI Can Recall Anyway, there has been only one FTX like controversy in MLB stadium naming history. That being energy company Enron going belly up on the Astros, forcing them to go shopping again a couple of years into the park's existence and settling on a Coca-cola subsidiary, Minute Maid.

Frayed Knot May 03 2023 06:14 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

Parc Nomenclateur would be a great name for the stadium for a Montreal expansion team.

stevejrogers May 03 2023 06:15 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

Comerica does sound suspiciously like Kramer's “company” Kramerica on Seinfeld.

Fman99 May 03 2023 06:45 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

Agreed that Citi Field is close enough to a generically named "City Field" that I find it mostly unintrusive. I like the Great American Ballpark for the same reason.

Lefty Specialist May 03 2023 07:08 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

I still call it Pac Bell Park even though it's been SBC Park, AT&T Park and Oracle Park in the years since.

Benjamin Grimm May 03 2023 07:08 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

These are the stadium names I have in the UMDB. (See below.) For those that had a non-corporate name, even briefly, (such as in Houston) I stick with that name forever. (Anaheim, White Sox, Cleveland, Miami, Toronto.) I really haven't been paying close attention to these sponsored names. Looking at Edgy's list, I see that some of these are out of date. (Phoenix, Atlanta, Seattle, Milwaukee, and San Francisco.) And also that I'm going to have to add a new stadium for the Rangers for 2024 when the Mets play a road game against them. For some of these, I'm tempted to go with the stadium address instead of an ever-changing corporate name. Seattle would be 1250 1st Ave South. The Giants would be 24 Willie Mays Plaza. The Diamondbacks play at 401 E Jefferson Street. The stadium in Milwaukee is at 1 Brewers Way. And the Braves are at 755 Battery Ave SE. Angels Stadium Anaheim, CA Astros Field Houston, TX Ballpark in Arlington Arlington, TX Bank One Ballpark Phoenix, AZ Busch Stadium II St. Louis, MO Camden Yards Baltimore, MD Citi Field Flushing, NY Citizens Bank Park Philadelphia, PA Comerica Park Detroit, MI Comiskey Park II Chicago, IL Coors Field Denver, CO Dodger Stadium Los Angeles, CA Fenway Park Boston, MA Great American Ball Park Cincinnati, OH Jacobs Field Cleveland, OH Kauffman Stadium Kansas City, MO Marlins Park Miami, FL Miller Park Milwaukee, WI Nationals Park Washington, DC Oakland Coliseum Oakland, CA PETCO Park San Diego, CA PNC Park Pittsburgh, PA Pacific Bell Park San Francisco, CA Safeco Field Seattle, WA Skydome Toronto, ON SunTrust Park Atlanta, GA Target Field Minneapolis, MN Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL Wrigley Field Chicago, IL Yankee Stadium III Bronx, NY

Frayed Knot May 03 2023 07:17 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

The Braves play at Truist Park, Truist being the corporate overlord of Suntrust which held the name for only the first a year or two of that park. And, if you want to further correct your list, it's also not in Atlanta.

Edgy MD May 03 2023 08:16 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

=stevejrogers post_id=124157 time=1683115927 user_id=57] AFAI Can Recall Anyway, there has been only one FTX like controversy in MLB stadium naming history.

I'm not sure what qualifies as a controversy. It's all pretty controversial from my perspective.



The parade of sponsors that piled brand on brand on top of Joe Robbie Stadium was a debacle that had the Marlins playing in a stadium that had three different names in one season.



My huh?-pologies for getting some of these names wrong.

stevejrogers May 03 2023 10:11 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

Edgy MD wrote: =stevejrogers post_id=124157 time=1683115927 user_id=57] AFAI Can Recall Anyway, there has been only one FTX like controversy in MLB stadium naming history. I'm not sure what qualifies as a controversy. It's all pretty controversial from my perspective. The parade of sponsors that piled brand on brand on top of Joe Robbie Stadium was a debacle that had the Marlins playing in a stadium that had three different names in one season.

Anything that's not a simple “business we chose/always a bigger fish” merger/acquisition related (not just being bought out due to being on the brink of bankruptcy), or the naming rights contract lapsing and new company picks it up.



I know what you are saying though when it comes to whirlwind of names and branding logos on the stadium in such a short time span, but those are at least different than the original sponsor losing the rights due to any kind of scandal and/or bad publicity.

vtmet7 May 03 2023 10:51 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

=stevejrogers post_id=124160 time=1683116139 user_id=57] Comerica does sound suspiciously like Kramer's “company” Kramerica on Seinfeld.

I was thinking that CoMerica was a United States where conservatives and liberals could peacefully co-exist for the betterment of CoMerica...

vtmet7 May 03 2023 10:57 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

Agreed that Citi Field is close enough to a generically named "City Field" that I find it mostly unintrusive. I like the Great American Ballpark for the same reason. in the earlier stages of Citi Field (when it sucked the power out of the team's bats, and looked like Fred's wetdream of his cherished dodgers, but almost no hint of the Mets or Giants), I used to call it Shitty Field... There have been some chatter lately that Cohen has looked into putting a retractable roof onto CouponField, but found that it would cost 8 times more than if Freddie boy had done it at construction time....IMO, the money would be better spent by Cohen tearing down the house that Fred built and building "Point 72 Retractable Dome at Willets Point", and making it pretty obvious from the beginning that it's a METS stadium and not some lame tribute to a team that abandoned Brooklyn

Johnny Lunchbucket May 03 2023 11:07 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

Roofed stadiums suck

Benjamin Grimm May 03 2023 11:10 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

I don't believe I've ever attended a game that was played under a roof. I went to two games in Seattle in 2014, but for both games the weather was fair and the roof remained open. I also attended a game in Olympic Stadium in Montreal, but that was long after the roof stopped functioning.

Edgy MD May 03 2023 11:28 AM Re: Park Nomenclature

It's sort of why I retain suspicion of inserting a clock in baseball. The roof seemingly solves a problem (a handful of rainouts and postponements each year) with no regard for everything that is lost as part of the solution. It took us decades to realize what was sacrificed by moving baseball indoors. Let's not go back.

Fman99 May 03 2023 12:36 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

Edgy MD wrote: It's sort of why I retain suspicion of inserting a clock in baseball. The roof seemingly solves a problem (a handful of rainouts and postponements each year) with no regard for everything that is lost as part of the solution. It took us decades to realize what was sacrificed by moving baseball indoors. Let's not go back. It's pretty stupid that they keep the roof closed every day in Phoenix and Miami just because it's hot outside. Babies.

whippoorwill May 03 2023 02:04 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

They can send some frigging heat here

Frayed Knot May 03 2023 02:50 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

It's pretty stupid that they keep the roof closed every day in Phoenix and Miami just because it's hot outside. Babies. At least back when they had Johnson & Shilling the DBacks used to let that night's starting pitcher decide whether it would be open roof or closed and they'd always pick closed because the ball tended to travel less far, or at least they believed it did. Not sure if there was data to back that up or not. But in post-season, specifically 2001, MLB was calling the shots and they decided that the roof would stay open, probably for aesthetic reasons but also because it was November by that point. So after allowing a HR the cameras clearly caught R.J., never exactly Mr. Warmth to begin with, mouthing "close the fucking roof!" for all viewers to see (I claim no talent in reading lips but even I could read that one). Of course in the famous 9th inning of Game 7 it actually started to drizzle in Phoenix possibly contributing to Mariano's foot slipping as he tried for a force play at 2B on a bunt resulting in a poor throw and a start to the game/WS-winning rally. So the open-roof breaks wound up going both ways as a result.

Marshmallowmilkshake May 03 2023 03:00 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

Edgy MD wrote: It's sort of why I retain suspicion of inserting a clock in baseball. The roof seemingly solves a problem (a handful of rainouts and postponements each year) with no regard for everything that is lost as part of the solution. It took us decades to realize what was sacrificed by moving baseball indoors. Let's not go back. It's pretty stupid that they keep the roof closed every day in Phoenix and Miami just because it's hot outside. Babies. For the game I saw in Miami this year, it was sunny and 70 degrees for a day game - and the roof was closed. I thought, if it closed today, when would you ever open it?

stevejrogers May 03 2023 03:01 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

Frayed Knot wrote: Of course in the famous 9th inning of Game 7 it actually started to drizzle in Phoenix possibly contributing to Mariano's foot slipping as he tried for a force play at 2B on a bunt resulting in a poor throw and a start to the game/WS-winning rally. So the open-roof breaks wound up going both ways as a result. You failed to make a “Soft Rain” quip! BTW, I'm making plans to be in Phoenix when the Mets are. Checked out the prices for the pool area at Chase…let's just say, and I guess now that I think of it probably understandable from liability standpoints, but it's cheaper to get inside Citi Field's new Speakeasy Club, than it is getting in that pool area!

stevejrogers May 03 2023 04:23 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

Other names for all 30 current ballparks Wrigley Field Weeghman Park 1914-1920 Cubs Park 1920-1926 Wrigley Field 1927- Angel Stadium of Anaheim Anaheim Stadium 1966-1997 Edison International Field 1998-2003 Angel Stadium 2004- Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 1966–1998 Network Associates Coliseum 1998–2004 McAfee Coliseum 2004–2008 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 2008-2011 Overstock.com Coliseum May 2011 O.co Coliseum 2011–2016 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 2016–2019 RingCentral Coliseum 2019- Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 2020- Kauffman Stadium Royals Stadium 1973-1993 Kauffman Stadium 1994- Rogers Centre SkyDome 1989-2005 Rogers Centre 2006- Guarantee Rate Field Comiskey Park II 1991-2003 U.S. Cellular Field 2003-2016 Guaranteed Rate Field 2017- Progressive Field Jacobs Field 1994-2007 Progressive Field 2008- Chase Field Bank One Ballpark 1998-2005 Chase Field 2006- T-Mobile Park Safeco Field 1999-2018 T-Mobile Park 2019- Oracle Park Pacific Bell Park 2000-2003 SBC Park 2004-2005 AT&T Park 2006-2018 Oracle Park 2019 Minute Maid Park Ballpark at Union Station 2000 Enron Field 2000-2002 Astros Field 2002 Minute Maid Park 2002- LoanDepot Park Marlins Park 2012-2020 LoanDepot Park 2021- Truist Park SunTrust Park 2017-2019 Truist Park 2020 American Family Field Miller Park 2001-2020 American Family Field 2021- Still with the same name Fenway Park 1912- West Coast Death Star 1962- Oriole Park at Camden Yards 1992- Coors Field 1995- Tropicana Field 1998-* Comerica Park 2000- PNC Park 2001- Great American Ballpark 2003- Citizens Bank Ballpark 2004- Petco Park 2004- Busch Stadium III 2006- Nationals Park 2008- Death Star III 2009- Citi Field 2009- Target Field 2010- Globe Life Field 2020- * Little bit of a cheat as it existed for about a decade as a pre-built stadium to lure a franchise, I think at least the Mariners and Giants over the years. And it was known as SunCoast Dome, and even ThunderDome as it was the original home of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lighting. But it has retained the same name since the start of the Rays franchise.

stevejrogers May 03 2023 04:32 PM Re: Park Nomenclature

This is a bit more exhaustive, and includes the insanity of Joe Robbie Stadium during the Marlins' time there, but this is a Google Maps list I did of 100 different sites, that I could find, for all 30 current teams. [url]https://maps.app.goo.gl/kM3mwdasY3WMhQGT8?g_st=i Eventually I'll try putting up defunct teams, in fact I think some defunct teams might even be on there (NL Cleveland Spiders and NL Baltimore Orioles), and I am working on other Major Leagues (NA, America Association, Federal League, the Negro Leagues that have been added to MLB's records, etc), but for now it's mostly the current 30 franchises (including franchise transfers (Pilots-Brewers, Expos-Nationals) and relocations.