With the possible exceptions of Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium may be the most iconic ballpark name in all of baseball. Now, that eminently recognizable moniker may be getting a bit clunkier in the service of increasing club revenues. Here's the scoop from Terry Lefton of the Sports Business Journal:
Now, America's third-oldest MLB venue is looking to defy MLB's legacy as the most traditional sport even more aggressively by selling naming rights to the field in Chavez Ravine, home to the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1962. Numerous industry sources tell us that Dodger Stadium's field — thus, it would be X Corp. Field at Dodger Stadium — has been on the market since early spring with an asking price of $12 million per season.
That's a hefty price tag, as naming-rights fees go, but it's also probably the most lucrative naming opportunity in the history of that particular sports-business sub-genre. On that front, Lefton's piece has more details on the Dodgers' efforts to pawn off naming rights to their field.
As with any sale of naming rights, taking care not to cause a low-grade fan revolt should be a priority. In any event, fans, of course, will go on calling it Dodger Stadium. Only in official capacities will we get the full clunker of a name. Also, the Dodgers would do well to avoid the course the White Sox took, which all but invited fans to make a punchline out of the new ballpark logo.
(Wink of CBS eye: HardballTalk)
