Daily Loaf

I was poking around the Internet this morning, reading about last night’s Phish show in Mansfield, MA., when something hit me. The author kept referring to the concert’s venue, The Comcast Center, by its pre-sponsorship name of Great Woods. I started thinking about the big-three Bay area sports venues and their old names, and now I’m thinking about ditching the corporate sponsorship names too. I have my reasons, and they are as follows:

Building: That big stadium with red seats on Dale Mabry where they play football
Corporate sponsorship name: Raymond James Stadium
Old-school handle: Tampa Stadium. OK, technically it’s always been Raymond James Stadium, but it was built next door to, and replaced, Tampa Stadium.
Reason to switch back: It’s The Great Recession folks, and you want some investment bankers slapping their logo feces all over the local altar to the biggest sport in America? (On a personal note: I think Raymond James had a hand in the Loaf 401(k) program last year. Fell free to label me bitter in the comments.) Tampa Stadium is an excellent name, a simple-but-solid description of the place the moniker represents. Tampa Stadium sounds tough. Not to many players want to travel to Tampa Stadium, a blistering sand pit where opposing teams get the life suffocated out of them. Raymond James Stadium, on the other hand, is the type of place that sees cash from the hometown squad’s retirement account vanish quarterly for as long as they’re in the league.

Building: The hockey arena in downtown Tampa that also has big-time concerts
Corporate Sponsorship Name: The St. Pete Times Forum
Old-school handle: The Ice Palace
Reason to Switch Back: I’m not hating on the St. Pete Times here. It’s a great newspaper (my hometown paper, as I’m a ‘Burger) and I congratulate them on their recent Pulitzers. No, my reason for switching back to The Ice Palace is that calling an arena in downtown Tampa the ST. PETE Times Forum is just fucking confusing. I know the locals get it, but if you’re from out of town this must be mind-boggling. Yes, the baseball team that plays in St. Pete has “Tampa Bay” in its name, too. We’re a confused people. Switching back to The Ice Palace will restore a sliver of sanity in an otherwise crazy world.

Building: The giant dome just off I-275 in downtown St. Petersburg
Corporate Sponsorship Name: Tropicana Field
Old-school handle: The Thunderdome
Reason to switch back: To me, this is the least offensive of the big three. I happen to love Tropicana’s Pure Premium, pulp-free OJ and drink it daily. But what does orange juice have to do with baseball or, more specifically, a baseball team named after slimy ocean dweller? Not much — though Thunderdome ain’t exactly ringing any bells in this department, either. Hell, The St. Pete Times Forum is a better name for the dome than either of those two. Tropicana Field has been nicknamed “The Trop” by Rays fans, and in this case I think we should stick with it. The Trop is short, catchy, and not obviously associated with someone shilling something. The Trop it is.

I’d love to hear your ideas for a new name for Ford Amphitheater. Leave your ideas in the comments.

(Joe Bardi also writes about movies at CL’s Movies & Television site, and here, here, here or here. Photo credits: RayJay by Bernard Gagnon via Wikipedia; St. Pete Times Forum by Mike Halterman via Wikipedia; The Trop by Wknight94 via wikipedia.)

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