Upon visiting my local Sav-On drug store the other day, I was shocked to learn that it was now part of the CVS drug store chain. The change really annoyed me because my discount card was now worthless. On the bright side, at least Sav-On didn't own the naming rights of any major sports venues. If they had, Sav-On Field would have become CVS Field, and it would have taken at least two years before fans stopped referring to it by the old name.
The only thing I find more irritating than stadiums with dumb corporate names is when the dumb corporate name changes to another dumb corporate name. And this seems to be happening a lot lately. The San Francisco Giants stadium opened as PacBell Park, then became SBC Park and is now AT&T Park. Well, at least they consistently used the word "Park."
Sports venues' naming rights seem to be changing hands overnight because of expiring contracts or business mergers. As a sports fan, I find this constant name changing very troubling. Seriously, is it too much to ask that my local arena have the same name for more than a year? This is why I'm taking this opportunity to ask every commissioner in sports to implement rules regulating corporate naming. I know in principle this goes against market economics and everything American, but hear me out. If David Stern can say what an NBA player can and cannot wear on the bench, there's no reason he can't set up some simple guidelines for his franchises to abide by when it comes to naming rights.
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