What's in a Name? The History of Great Events at Sun Life Stadium

Article originally published on www.stadiumjourney.com

On January 20, 2010, the site of Super Bowl XLIV officially received its new name: Sun Life Stadium. It was the seventh name given to the venue in its 23 years of existence. Imagine if you changed your name every three years or so. How would you manage your Facebook profile?

The good news is that the deal with Sun Life Financial is good for the next five years, so there will be time for fans to learn this new name.

Whether you remember the stadium as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, or Land Shark Stadium one thing remains the same—the Florida sunshine.

The fact is, this is a great venue for football (baseball, not so much), and it should be a great site for this year’s Super Bowl, the fifth such event in its history. Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Elway, and Peyton Manning have all shown their team to Super Bowl victories over the years.

Matt Leinart and Tim Tebow helped to win BCS Championships for their schools, so lefty quarterbacks have a good track record entering the game. If Mark Brunell is forced to enter as Drew Brees’ back-up, you can feel good about the history of southpaws in big games at Sun Life Stadium. At the very least, Saints fans can feel good about his placeholder duties.

It has also hosted two World Series, both seeing the Marlins come out on top. The classic extra-inning affair against the Indians in 1997 was clinched in the stadium.

It’s interesting to see the difference between the negative experiences of fans from a baseball perspective, and the positive experiences from fans from a football perspective. 

Luckily, Sunday is all about the pigskin, and hopefully the game will be as beautiful as the weather.

Paul Swaney is the Co-Founder of Stadium Journey