It was announced this week that the new Mile High Stadium, built next to the old Mile High in Denver, will actually be named "Invesco Field at Mile High." Invesco Funds Group, a financial services company, paid a reported $120 million for the name rights of the stadium over the next 20 years.
Come on people? Is this really necessary? I sat idly by when Candlestick Park was renamed 3-Com. I didn't put up a fight when Seattle built Safeco field. I watched some jokers in Cincinnati dub their stadium Cinergy Field. I even let them tarnish Joe Robbie in Miami by calling it Pro Player Stadium. But now I have to draw the line. It has to stop.
You might say that this kind of thing is the least of the NFL's worries. The XFL is starting play soon; the infant league plans to compete with the NFL for players, coaches, and their audience. Many people thought going into Sunday's Super Bowl contest that the Ravens and Giants might have been the worst match-up ever in a championship game. The Giants certainly did nothing to defend themselves.
Add a disappointing Super Bowl to the recent murder conviction of Rae Carruth, Mark Chmura's rape accusations, and the fact that an accused double murderer just won the Super Bowl MVP and Defensive Player of the Year and you probably think that the renaming of Mile High shouldn't bother the powers that be in the NFL at all. Clearly it isn't as serious as any of their other problems.
But in many ways, the renaming of Denver's stadium, the place John Elway made famous, represents not only what is wrong with the NFL, but sports in general. It's no longer a game. Everything comes down to one thing -- money.
Now I don't purposefully delude myself. I realize that professional sports are businesses. And big time college sports are becoming increasingly so. But that doesn't mean they have to strip away all the prized vestiges of yesterday, does it? Why can't the corporate world and the sporting world keep separate identities? Why do I have to watch a Celtics' game at the Fleet Center? Trust me people, when I think NBA basketball, I think about the parquet floor of the old Boston Garden. When I think of paying a stupid $1 fee at the cash machine I think of Fleet. Please don't mix the two.
Did anyone notice the cool Fiesta Bowl logo on the middle of the field during the game? Neither did I. But I did notice the enormous TOSTITOS letters not only on the 50-yard line but everywhere else on the field as well. I also saw AT&T, Nokia, and FedEx at the Rose, Sugar, and Orange Bowls, respectively. Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Nokia is a Finnish company? Do they even play football in Finland?
Some bowls have gone so far as to drop any semblance of independence from their sponsor. There actually is an Insight.Com Bowl. I didn't watch it this year (and I always watch every bowl game) because just hearing that phrase makes me want to wretch.
I'm not completely off my rocker here either. The people of Denver didn't like the idea of renaming their stadium either. In fact, Mayor Wellington Webb led a public outcry against selling out to Invesco. Unfortunately, the Metropolitan Football Stadium District Board liked the idea and accepted it on the strength of a 7-1 vote. Taxpayers are going to foot 75 percent of the $400 million required to build the stadium; the Stadium Board felt that by selling name rights to Invesco, they could save the citizens of Denver a hefty amount. They didn't anticipate that the residents of the Mile High City didn't base all decisions on the bottom line.
"It's a sad day," Gary Holbrook, Denver native and retired college professor, told ESPN.com. "I can tell you I'm very disappointed. As a fourth-generation Coloradan whose family has lived here for over 100 years, I'm tired of trading away the symbols of our history to corporate America."
Okay, maybe this annoys me (and the people of Denver) a lot more than other people. I can accept that. But as sports progress into the 21st Century and corporate America becomes increasingly involved, things will get worse. Imagine a basketball team named after a company. How about the General Electric Generals. Pretty stupid, huh? Imagine a football team with an AOL logo on their helmet. All it would take is a big sum of money and a company willing to pay it. We all know those aren't in short supply. The traditions we've all grown accustomed to are slowly dying out. It's not just a sad day for Denver. It's a sad day for all sports fans.
