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The Dodgers are playing great baseball right now, and that usually calls for some kind of outrageous distraction.
It was reported yesterday that the Dodgers have hired Greg McElroy as their chief sales officer. The Los Angeles Times notes that McElroy was instrumental in selling the naming rights for two Texas sports facilities, and points out that Frank McCourt has considered selling the naming rights to Dodger Stadium.
Message to McCourt: Stop right there! McCourt is slowly but surely winning over LAist, but renaming Dodger Stadium after a bank, a failing software company, or Taco Bell would make McCourt public enemy #1. The $30 million a year made off the naming would be offset by the backlash from such an unpopular move, and Dodger attendance has been pretty darn good lately.
McElroy can sell all the luxury suites and side sponsorships he wants, but the bottom line is that Dodger Stadium is in the same group with Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Yankee Stadium in terms of classic stadium names. We're relieved McCourt nixed a mascot idea earlier. We're assuming that he'll come to his senses again.
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McCourt wouldn't make $30 million a year from the naming rights. It would be more like $3 million a year for 10 years. That isn't a lot of money in baseball's economy, but it is enough to pay for a $25 million mansion in Holmby Hills.
This is certainly distasteful, but of all the ways McCourt could increase revenue this is pretty benign. In my mind, this is preferable to increased ballpark prices and more in-stadium advertising.
Then again it is naive to think that this is an either/or decision for McCourt. The problem with having a cash poor owner is that, by necessity, (s)he is going to squeeze every penny possible out of the team.
I stand corrected. For stadium naming rights info, check out: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?page=stadiumnames
This is all the more reason not to sell the naming rights. When all you'll get is enough to pay only a fraction of Darren Dreifort's salary, why screw with tradition?
Apple Stadium
Don't give Arte Moreno too much credit there. He fully intends to rename Angels Stadium as soon as a sponsor steps forward. Things didn't work out too well with Edison, the former sponsor.
Whatever happened to the idea of selling stadium parking to downtown workers? At, say, $200/month, thats more than competitive. Multiply by 12 x say, 5,000 spaces and that gets you a cool $12mln/yr. Now, Mr. McCourt being in the parking biz and all might have a leg or two up on you or me on the operational costs of running a shuttle operation from Dodger stadium to downtown locales. Suffice it to say, tho, we're lookin at a conservative estimate of anywhere from $5-10 mln/yr.