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Hello, Knology Park. The Blue Jays have sold the naming rights to their spring-training stadium, also home to the Florida State League's Dunedin Blue Jays. Knology, apparently, is the name of a Georgia communications company. Anybody know who Grant was, and whether he's likely spinning in his grave?

This announcement, of course, raises the question of when the same fate will befall Skydome in Toronto. The Jays' home stadium is one of the few modern ballparks without some form of corporate name attached to it (I think the Metrodome is the only other one), and thus far the proprieters have resisted the temptation to rechristen it -- either that, or they haven't received a sufficiently rich offer. The likeliest scenario, I think, is that once the Blue Jays purchase the Skydome (as inevitably they must), Ted's surname will be attached to the building and we'll have the Rogers Skydome. Personally, I'd prefer to see the rights go to the club's founding brewer, so that we can enjoy the sunny optimism of the Labatt's Blue Sky Dome. Do we have any other nominees?

As for Knology Park -- it just doesn't roll off the tongue, does it? -- I'll be dropping by during my visit to spring training in the last week of March. My ability to file game and scouting reports during the week depends slightly on whether I can find Internet access, and far more on exactly how much sunshine the Gulf Coast of Florida receives. In other words, unless it's raining, don't expect any spring training reports till April ... and heck, if it is raining, there won't be any reports to file anyway.
Farewell to Grant Field | 28 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:08 AM EST (#21348) #
http://economics.about.com
How many millions would naming rights for the stadium go for? I could see some group pissing away 5 million dollars a year for it, so how about:

The Liberal Sponsorship Program Memorial Dome

It just rolls off the tounge. :)

Cheers,

Mike
_Matt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:15 AM EST (#21349) #
I'd prefer to see the rights go to the club's founding brewer, so that we can enjoy the sunny optimism of the Labatt's Blue Sky Dome. Do we have any other nominees?

ack.... I detest Labatt, Molson, their mediocre advertising campaigns and overall images as artifacts of canadian culture. They're like what budweiser is to the US except with ads that aren't as amusing, but still with product that tastes equally awful.

If a brewer is going to get the naming rights, I would prefer that it be for a good beer... unfortunately since good beer (creemore is the best made in the gta in my opinion) will never become mainstream enough to get that kind of sponsorship status I'd just rather see "Rogers SkyDome" or something like that...

"SkyDome" is pretty cool by itself... I actually like being able to mutter the name of the stadium that I'm about to attend without becoming some corporate advertising bitch in the process.

but hey, that's business...
_Spicol - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:21 AM EST (#21350) #
Anybody know who Grant was, and whether he's likely spinning in his grave?

According to the Internet, which is always right, Grant Field was named after A.J. Grant, who served as mayor during the Depression and donated the land for the site. It is unknown whether or not the "grand old man of Dunedin", as he was called in his later years, is into post-demise rotation or not.
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:28 AM EST (#21351) #
http://economics.about.com
"SkyDome" is pretty cool by itself... I actually like being able to mutter the name of the stadium that I'm about to attend without becoming some corporate advertising bitch in the process.

Hey, nobody is forcing you to adopt the new name. I know I'll still call it the Skydome 30 years from now.. or more precisely I'll just call it "The Dome" like I do now. No big deal.

Everytime you ask for a Kleenex when you want a tissue, or a Band-Aid whenever you want a cloth bandage, you're being a corporate advertising bitch.. but that doesn't seem to stop most people. Probably because asking for a "tissue" makes you sound really, really lame.

Cheers,

Mike
_Matt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:36 AM EST (#21352) #
Ouch, I just got told.... my pride hurts now... I best cover up my moral wounds with a bandaid... err... cloth bandage... :)
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:48 AM EST (#21353) #
http://economics.about.com
Ouch, I just got told.... my pride hurts now... I best cover up my moral wounds with a bandaid... err... cloth bandage

D'oh! I meant to come off as friendly. Damn lack-of-writing ability. :)

But yeah, I don't think these stadium naming things are a big deal for existing stadiums, because people generally end up calling them the old name. Like when Candlestick changed to 3Com.. it was still "The Stick" to most people.

If it's a new stadium, it's a bit different, but not significantly so. In London, ON everyone refers to the new arena named "The John Labbatt Center" as "The JLC". I don't think anyone really cares what JLC stands for, so the advertising doesn't appear to be working.

Cheers,

Mike
Named For Hank - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:59 AM EST (#21354) #
Carlos Delgado should show his commitment to the team by purchasing the naming rights. And then we could make all kinds of goofy cracks about Delgado's Dome shining in the sun and so on and so on.
_Matt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:03 AM EST (#21355) #
oh yea, I was just being somewhat playful on the matter.... it's all good dude... Honestly I really won't care about any name changes to the dome... Just something to joke about really when you're at the game and acting obnoxious with your buddies....

As for my rant, I'm still recovering from that movie "The Corporation" right now... wow, anti-corporate documentaries are getting really mainstream nowadays... "Bowling for Columbine" is of course the most successful.... Powerful stuff... Even if you do have to take such things with a grain of salt as they obviously have their own agendas

I still can not believe the stuff about that RGBH hormone that they give to cows in parts of the us though... They were saying that such hormones can lead to cancer in the humans that drink it [the milk] and cause the cow's udders to swell up to the size of medicine balls or something... I know its banned in canada... Oh but I ramble now.... :)....
_Jordan - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:05 AM EST (#21356) #
Carlos Delgado should show his commitment to the team by purchasing the naming rights.

Hmmm.... The Carlos Delgadome.
_coliver - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:11 AM EST (#21357) #
I live near Buffalo and therefore go to a lot of Buffalo Bisons games. In the fifteen years of the downtown stadium, it has been called Pilot Field, North Americare Park and Dunn Tire Park. For a while, the stadium had no name, and Bison management had to call it the "downtown ballpark".

I wonder if there has been an increase of Western New York baseball fans buying their tires at their local Dunn Tire shoppe...

One last thought: As a child, going to Exhibition Stadium was my favorite thing to do. In addition to the ballpark and watching the Jays, I was always dug that big ol' KFC bucket above the Gardiner Expressway. Just think, if they had big time naming rights back then, Exhibition Stadium could have been called "Big Ol'Chicken Bucket Stadium".

Sorry for the nonsense, those naming rights bring out the worst in me. I am not looking forward to any changes in SkyDome's name.
Craig B - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:12 AM EST (#21358) #
goofy cracks about Delgado's Dome shining in the sun and so on and so on.

The Chrome Dome?
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:18 AM EST (#21359) #
http://economics.about.com
As for my rant, I'm still recovering from that movie "The Corporation" right now... wow, anti-corporate documentaries are getting really mainstream nowadays... "Bowling for Columbine" is of course the most successful

I haven't seen "The Corporation" yet, but I did see "Bowling for Columbine". I quite enjoyed BfC... it was very entertaining, even if Moore played incredibly loose and fast with facts and I'm still not entirely sure what Moore's point was. He also made me feel sympathetic toward Charlton Heston, something I thought would have been impossible before the release of the movie.

I think everyone needs their whipping boy, so movies like that are quite popular. For a lot of people, it's corporations, others enjoy bashing Bush. My targets of choice are the UN and social conservatives, though there's nothing like a good anti-CBC rant to get me going. :)

Cheers,

Mike
_Matt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:31 AM EST (#21360) #
oh yea... the 7-second delay... whaddup with that? I don't think thats ever happened before on tv. It just doesn't make sense... if you want to fire him than do it, if you're going to retain him than let him speak freely....

Now they're just totally undermining Grapes' confidence as a broadcaster...

Scott Taylor came on the score last night, and actually pointed out that some guy looked up the names and birthplaces of every current nhl player... after that this guy used getty images or some other extensive sports photography archive to check each and every player to see who did and did not use the visors... It turned out that something like 35% of all nhl'ers wear visors now, and of that group 65% are indeed french canadian or european in origin...

I'm sure don cherry knew those numbers before his little remark though....

Anyways, what he said in itself "its the french and european guys who wear the visors" there's not really any harm... its what he implied where I spose that people took affense... The implication of course being that Grapes likely doesn't feel that players of said national origin are the 'manliest' of people...

So yeah it was a pretty ignorant thing to say... but if you're going to fire him, then just do it.... the delay thing is just stupid... I mean how on earth would you even implement the delay if you needed to???

So yeah, cbc bashing is definitely in right now... as for cherry ... I guess he's got more of a mixed public opinion right now...
_pete_the_donkey - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 12:09 PM EST (#21361) #
I work in advertising representing a major national client (which will remain unnamed). Skydome has recently been offering naming rights to advertisers, and I've been working closely on the evaluations and negotiations, but the terms are ridiculous. Not only do they want a large sum on a yearly basis (think $6 mil plus) on a long term deal (think 10 years plus), but the name-rights holder must also buy a designated amount of signage within the Dome over the course of the contract, as well as myriad other details that I won't bore you with.
Long story short, the Dome has only two chances of being corporately-named in the near future:
1) They lower their price and conditions considerably (they've proven quite stubborn in negotiations, so I wouldn't wager on that).
2) Someone else will foolishly bite on the current offer.
_Stan - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 12:43 PM EST (#21362) #
When I go to see a Jays game, I just go down to the ball park. When the Toronto Maple Leafs played at Maple Leaf Stadium, I still called it the ball park. Old habits die hard.
robertdudek - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 02:04 PM EST (#21363) #
Mike,

I'll get you started ... the CBC is the one of the ten greatest things about Canada.
_3RunHomer - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 02:11 PM EST (#21364) #
It is unknown whether or not the "grand old man of Dunedin", as he was called in his later years, is into post-demise rotation or not.

Ha! Post-demise rotation!
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 02:14 PM EST (#21365) #
http://economics.about.com
I'll get you started ... the CBC is the one of the ten greatest things about Canada.

What a sad commentary on the state of our country. :)

Cheers,

Mike
robertdudek - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 06:06 PM EST (#21366) #
... just the opposite, Mike ... just the opposite.
_Matt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 06:19 PM EST (#21367) #
5 minutes for the instigator.... or something???
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 06:29 PM EST (#21368) #
http://economics.about.com
5 minutes for the instigator.... or something???

Yeah, no kidding, eh. "Oooh.. look.. buttons!!! Why don't I press them!"

I can't get into a good CBC rant without a few beers, so unless Robert is buying, I'm staying mum on the issue. :)

Cheers,

Mike
robertdudek - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 08:35 PM EST (#21369) #
Okay Mike,

When April rolls around we'll meet somewhere before a ballgame.
_WillRain - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:10 PM EST (#21370) #
Well, someone beat me to 40, so I'll say 36...and many beat me to what i had planned to predict, that Gross would come first. I actually think it's possible Gross could be up most of the second half. To me, he's better equiped to not be overwhelmed with major league pitching. Plus he's older and it wouldn't be a case of rushing him so much. Also, if JP is thinking ahead, I can see where he'd want to get at least one of those OF and Quiroz up before the end of the year, because if you want to make a smooth transition to 2005, you ought not to have three completely green rookies (Four if you expect Adams) all stepping into the lineup at once.
Pepper Moffatt - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:21 PM EST (#21371) #
http://economics.about.com
When April rolls around we'll meet somewhere before a ballgame.

Trust me... it's really not that interesting. I'll just say the phrases "money that could be better off spent on social problems", "Fox News of the Left", and "lack of ideological diversity" over and over. With more swearing, and possible mouth-fomage.

I mean, we're not going to change each other's mind, so why raise the old blood pressure unnecessarily? I'd rather discuss "Who was a better fielder: Tim Wallach or Mike Schmidt".

Cheers,

Mike
_fl - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 10:25 PM EST (#21372) #
Gideon, there is a library right next to the stadium which has internet access. We will be expected full reports.
robertdudek - Wednesday, February 11 2004 @ 11:02 PM EST (#21373) #
And I might reply: "I've never noticed that the CBC has championed the NDP", or "the CBC, by providing a pan-Canadian perspective, promotes social cohension, thereby preventing potential social problems", or "the CBC provides the highest return of social good per government dollar spent".

You're probably right - it's not worth discussing.
Craig B - Thursday, February 12 2004 @ 09:12 AM EST (#21374) #
Please, please, kids stop fighting. Maybe Lisa's right about America being the land of opportunity, and maybe Adil has a point about the machinery of capitalism being oiled with the blood of the workers.

Wallach could pick it in his prime better than Schmidt could in his, but really he wasn't a viable Gold Glove candidate until at least 1984. Schmidt won most of his Gold Gloves on merit.
_Jordan - Thursday, February 12 2004 @ 09:12 AM EST (#21375) #
Now they're just totally undermining Grapes' confidence

Matt, I don't think that's possible. :-)

"Who was a better fielder: Tim Wallach or Mike Schmidt".

Have we all just forgotten about a man named Hubie Brooks?

Gideon, there is a library right next to the stadium which has internet access.

I like any town with a library across from the ballpark.

I can't get into a good CBC rant without a few beers.

I'm not tuning in to one minute of the CBC till they bring back The Beachcombers. And none of this "Bruno Gerussi's dead" nonsense either!

Man, do we need baseball season to start.....
Farewell to Grant Field | 28 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.