Who’s ready to pack up the ol’ cooler and head down to Matsumura Fishworks & Tamaribuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern Ballpark to see the Marlins? That’s the reality south Florida could be facing as the two-time World Series champs are “talking [with] multinational companies … looking to get their name in Miami” about the park name and that a four-month-long deal is “close to being finalized”.
During a media tour of the ballpark in mid-June, team President David Samson said negotiations were down to two companies.
“The end is always the hardest. I wanted an announcement [by] June 1. We are in an area where we’ve narrowed it down considerably and we’re at the final lap,” Samson said at the time. “It’s going to be a very interesting deal when it’s announced. Both companies are international companies.”
Believe it or not, companies struggling to stay afloat in our shifty economy are still willing to dump loads of cash into putting their name on stadiums. MetLife is close to securing rights to Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey for an average of $17 million to $18 million a year. The stadium MetLife should’ve paid that much money to sponsor, Citi Field, got the “Citi” name in a 20-year, $400 million deal. Nationals Park got their name through a sponsorship with Major League Baseball team the Washington Nationals, because nobody likes the Nats and they’re the baseball team equivalent of that terrible opinion board that puts CONTACT US ABOUT ADVERTISING all over the page.
Anyway, the whole “French douche company name on our stadium instead of a local institution” thing isn’t going over well with the Marlins faithful, like Craig from Fish Stripes:
“Multinational companies that are looking to get their name in Miami”? I don’t like the sound of that. Does that mean they won’t have any South Florida roots? If the stadium is named after Bacardi, I’m cool with that. Or after one of the cruise lines, no problem. Or Burger King, that will work. Or Publix, I can get behind that. But it better not be a British Petroleum-like company or some vampire squid financial institution. But for some reason, I am afraid it will be.
Yeah, call it Publix Park, I want to see a ballgame at a place that sounds like I should be covering it with my underwear.
[h/t Yahoo! Sports]
