What's in a Name?

Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I’m about to waste your time talking about that famous quote from Act II Scene 2 in Romeo and Juliet which you probably had to read in High School English.

No, the reason for bringing it up is that while sitting here alone with my beer a few nights ago, I overheard some of the guys at the bar talking about naming rights for pro football stadiums. There was talk that companies pay as much as 5 million dollars, or more, for each year of their contract to give their name to a stadium!

It got me to thinking, so, I went home and looked up the names of the stadiums of NFL teams and came across the likes of Fed Ex Field and Lincoln Financial Field. You know, names that instill about as much nostalgia and sense of team spirit as would Internal Revenue Service Stadium, or Bill Gates Gardens. I mean, how bad can a name get?

However, I did find two exceptions, and they are Soldier Field and Lambeau Field. Now those are what I call great names. Soldier Field, so named in honor of those who died in the First World War, and Lambeau Field in honor of Curly Lambeau, founder of the Green Bay Packers, and one of the early greats in pro football history. By the way, a contemporary of his was George Hallas, nick-named Papa Bear, who founded the Chicago Bears, who play in Soldier Field.

Just the mention of either of those stadium names brings to mind some of the greatest games, and some of the greatest players, the sport has ever had. Which has created a bit of a problem; the names are so enshrined, that they are missing out on the chance to make money off of naming rights to the stadium. It would be nothing short of sacrilege to even suggest changing their names.

However, I have a proposal that just might work.

If we look at the names closely, we see the second half of each name is the word “Field”. Got it?

Why not think of “Field” in its literal sense. Soldier “Field” is the playing field, the turf on which the game takes place. The stadium is simply the seating facility from which one views the “Field”. So, for example, “Bill Gates Gardens”, as mentioned above, could be the name of the stadium, but the team still plays on Soldier Field.

Perhaps on the exterior of the facility would be a sign saying something like: “Welcome to Bill Gates Gardens, the venue for Soldier Field”. Also, radio and TV announcers could be required to make the distinction at the start of each game, who knows? I’m just tossing out ideas.

I mean, with the extra revenue, they might just be able to pay the players a living wage!

Will it happen? Maybe, maybe not.

In the meantime...it’s something to think about.