Friday, January 28, 2005

What will they call the stadiums?

Now that P&G bought Gillette, and Bank of America bought Fleet, and Manulife bought John Hancock, we are running out of big, Boston based, household name companies. Beyond all the details about jobs and the local economy, what will they call the stadiums? Bank of America gave back naming rights to the Fleet Center (not out of good will, by the way, their contract said they could not rename the stadium again). Here is a list of the following companies that could be in the running:
  • Fidelity, my bet.
  • Citizens Bank, based in Providence, they are bigger now with all the Financial Services M&A. They also took over the Fast Lane advertising from Fleet.
  • New Balance. Big name but I don't know if they have the budget for this kind of marketing.
  • EMC. Not consumer facing enough.
  • TJX. Holding companies are too abstract. They could name a stadium after one of their properties.
  • State Street Bank.
  • Staples, but they already have the Staples Center, why is it in LA?
  • Raytheon, too military.
  • Genzyme. No one wants to think of Lysosomal Storage Disorders when they are a game.
  • Biogen. Not so New England any more with the merger with IDEC


BTW, I think "The Razor" is the coolest name for a football stadium. Since the Gillette brand is going to live on, I hope they keep it.