I love sports. I also love "best and worst" lists. Anyone who has been a regular reader of this blog can attest to both of those. With that in mind, I wanted to do a list of the best and worst sports stadium/arena names.
Before we get started, let me say that I hate the trend of corporate sponsorships of stadium and arena names. Some work better than others (those corporate names that are also a person's last name - Busch, Miller, Coors, Wrigley - aren't too bad), but in general, corporates names on stadiums suck. Aside from generally sounding stupid, they often result in sports facilities frequently changing names as corporations merge, get acquired or go out of business. For instance, the current arena in St. Louis is now on it's 4th name since 1994 while the arenas in Tampa, Philadelphia and Nashville are all on their 4th name since 1996. Even worse, the football stadium in Nashville is on it's 4th name since 1999! Aside from that, I don't understand why corporations spend tens or millions of dollars on having a sports facility named after them. I mean, Scottrade and Edward Jones both had their names on sports facilities in St. Louis for years and I didn't move any of my investments to either of those companies and I'm sure no one else did, either.
For this post, we're focusing only on "big league" professional sports stadiums and arenas. We're not including any college or minor league facilities. Here we go...
Best Stadium Names (in no particular order):
Candlestick Park (1960-2014), San Francisco, CA - The stadium was named after its location on Candlestick Point on the western shore of San Francisco Bay, which was itself named for the candlestick birds that used to frequent the area. I had the experience of attending a Giants game there in 1987. While the setting for the stadium was beautiful, the stadium was not. In spite of the fact that we were attending a game during the middle of the summer, we had to wear coats to the game and still froze thanks to the cool wind that the area is known for. The game we were at featured a hot dog wrapper that blew around the stadium for several innings. For the last decade or so of its existence, it unfortunately swapped it's great name for dumb corporate names like "3Com Park at Candlestick Point" and "Monster Park."
Riverfront Stadium (1970-2002), Cincinnati, OH - The stadium, which was located on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, was appropriately named for its location. The stadium itself was one of the multitude of multipurpose cookie cutter concrete bowls that sprouted up all over the country in the 1960s and 1970s, so it was pretty nondescript. But I always loved the name. Unfortunately, toward the end of its run, it succumbed to the corporate name craze, being changed to "Cinergy Field" from 1996-2002 after Cincinnati-based energy company Cinergy.
Three Rivers Stadium (1970-2000), Pittsburgh, PA - Like the preceding stadium, the actual facility was another faceless cookie cutter stadium. But also like the first two stadiums, it had a unique name inspired by the physical location of the stadium. In this case, the stadium was situated in Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers where they form the Ohio River. Unlike the first two stadiums on the list, this one never had a corporate name and stuck with its wonderful moniker throughout its 30 year existence.
Mile High Stadium (1948-2000), Denver, CO - Unlike the first three stadiums on our list, this one is nowhere near a body of water. Rather it is named after its location in Denver, which is nicknamed the Mile High City. The name was so good that they tried to maintain a part of it in the stadium that replaced it, in spite of stupid corporate names (Invesco Field at Mile High and then Sports Authority Field at Mile High).
Checkerdome (1977-1983), St. Louis, MO - Perhaps I'm biased, but this is one of the few times when a corporate name tie-in was kind of cooler than the original name. The St. Louis Arena was the premier indoor sports facility in St. Louis from 1929 until the mid 1990s. For all but 6 years of its existence, the venerable old barn (literally - it was built as the permanent home of the National Dairy Show) was called the St. Louis Arena. But from 1977-1983, the arena and the Blues were owned by Ralston-Purina and it was renamed the "Checkerdome" as an homage to Purina's well known checkerboard logo. Once Purina decided to sell the building and the team, it reverted back St. Louis Arena.
SkyDome (1989 - present), Toronto, Ontario - When this stadium opened in 1989, it was groundbreaking. It was a retractable roof dome that featured a Hard Rock Cafe and a hotel. It was the most cutting edge facility, so the name SkyDome was fitting. Unfortunately, in 2005, the naming rights were sold to Rogers Communications and the name was changed from SkyDome to the decidedly less cool Rogers Centre (see worst names section below).
Saddledome (1983 - present), Calgary, Alberta - This arena got its name based upon it's unique saddle shape, which was, in turn, influenced by its location on the Calgary Stampede grounds. It was built in the early 1980s as a new home for the Calgary Flames and to host the hockey and ice skating events in the 1988 Winter Olympics. While it has had some lame corporate sponsorships over the years (Canadian Airlines, Pengrowth and Scotiabank), the have always kept "Saddledome" as part of the name. There is talk of replacing this arena sometime in the near future, but until then we can only hope that that the current building maintains its cool name.
Northlands Coliseum (1974 - 2018), Edmonton, Alberta - Sticking with the Canadian province of Alberta, we move a few hours further north to Edmonton, which is the city furthest north to have one of the "big 4" pro sports teams. This, of course, means that the name Northlands Coliseum fits perfectly, though it's actually named after the Northlands entertainment complex of which it is a part. The arena had several lame corporate names over its existence (Skyreach Centre and Rexall Place among them), but it reverted back to this unique name back in 2016. Unfortunately, the Oilers have moved to a new arena with the terribly common name of Rogers Place (see worst names section below.)
Astrodome (1965 - present), Houston, TX - Known as the so called "Eighth Wonder of the World" when it opened, the Astrodome was the world's first domed stadium. It was a modern, cutting-edge facility that was given the oh so appropriate name of the "Astrodome", which was also a nod to Houston's importance to NASA and America's space industry. The first dome also led to the first artificial grass playing surface which was, of course, named AstroTurf.
Madison Square Garden (1964 - present), New York, NY - It's the most famous arena in the world and it's actually the fourth arena to bear this name. The first two (built in 1879 and 1890) were located in Madison Square in Manhattan. The third (built in 1925) was located further uptown, while the current facility is situated above Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan. The "garden" name later inspired the name of the Boston Garden. The building has never had a corporate name; rather, the MSG become the name of a corporation and a broadcasting network.
Polo Grounds (1890 - 1963), New York, NY - Staying in The Big Apple, this venerable stadium was site of Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" in 1951 as well as Willie Mays's incredible over the shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series. The stadium was built on the site of a former polo field which gave it its unique name and was known for its distinctive bathtub shape with short distances down the lines (279 to left and 258 to right) but extremely deep distances to CF (483 feet). It served as the home of the New York Giants (both baseball and football), the New York Yankees and the New York Mets before being demolished in the mid 1960s.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards (1992 - present), Baltimore, MD - The landmark retro ballpark that marked the end of the multipurpose cookie cutter stadium era and ushered in the era of retro ballparks. It has a simple name that reflects both the name of the team that plays there as well as its location at site of the old Camden Station rail yards. Thankfully, unlike most of the new "retro" stadiums that followed in its wake, this gem has kept its non-corporate name throughout its existence.
Worst Stadium Names (in no particular order):
PSINet Stadium (1998 - present), Baltimore, MD - Just a short distance from Oriole Park at Camden Yards is the football stadium in Baltimore. Initially, it was called Ravens Stadium at Camden Yards, keeping with the same naming convention used with the baseball stadium. Unfortunately, they then went the corporate route and changed it to PSINet Stadium after PSINet, one of the first Internet Service Providers. Within 2 years, the company went bankrupt, so I suppose the idea that this naming right would help the profile of the company didn't work out so well. Unfortunately, the stadium wound up with another lame corporate name - M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens team name is awesome - seeing as how it is a tribute to Edgar Allen Poe and his poem "The Raven" - but the stadium name stinks.
Anything with AT&T in the Name - There's AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. There's AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX. There's AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA. Three different facilities - one for football, one for basketball and one for baseball - all with, essentially, the same name. Any way you slice it, it's dumb. And has anyone actually switched to AT&T from another provider because of it? I think not.
Anything with Rogers in the Name - This is the Canadian equivalent of the AT&T thing. There's Rogers Centre in Toronto. There's Rogers Place in Edmonton. There's Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Three different facilities all with, essentially the same name. Boring and dumb.
Sleep Train Arena (1988-2016), Sacramento, CA - As I stated earlier, corporate names suck. Some are just worse than others. This is one of the worst. Do I really need to elaborate? By the way, do you want to know what this arena was called before this? The Power Balance Pavilion. Yuck. They should have gone with "Capitaldome" or something playing up Sacramento's role as the capital of the country's most populous state.
Vivint Smart Home Arena (1991 - present), Salt Lake City, UT - This is another arena that has had a corporate name throughout its history, though the names just keep getting worse. First, it was Delta Center, which isn't terrible. Then it was EnergySolutions Arena after a nuclear waste company. Since 2015, it has borne its current ridiculous name due to a naming rights deal with a home security company.
Guaranteed Rate Field (1991 - present), Chicago, IL - Originally known as New Comiskey Park or Comiskey Park II, it was known as US Cellular Field for 13 years before switching to this horrendous name in late 2016. Named after a Chicago-based mortgage company that probably none of you have heard of, this has to rank as one of the worst stadium names. In a city as diverse and exciting as Chicago, it's a shame that this is, apparently, the best that the White Sox could do.
St. Pete Times Forum (1996 - present), Tampa, FL - This name is bad for several reasons. First of all, it was named after a newspaper. At a time when newspapers are struggling to survive, who thought it was a good idea to spend millions on a naming rights deal? Even worse, it's named after the paper in St. Petersburg when the arena is in Tampa! To be fair, they did change the name to Tampa Bay Times Forum (which is at least more accurate) in 2012 before changing it to Amalie Arena (after an oil company) in 2014.
KFC Yum! Center (2010 - present), Louisville, KY - A beautiful arena in a terrific location (right on the Ohio River in downtown Louisville) with a stupid, stupid name. The KFC abbreviation would be bad enough, but adding the Yum and the "!" to it just makes it even worse. Something like "Riverfront Coliseum" would have been great. Or how about the "Kentucky Bourbon Barn?"
Smoothie King Center (1999 - present), New Orleans, LA - Of all of the dumb corporate names of sports facilities, this one takes the cake. Do I even need to explain any further? New Orleans is a festive place characterized by all manner of debauchery and lasciviousness, so having an arena named after a healthy, wholesome beverage purveyor just doesn't seem right. How about "Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler Center?"
