eCommerce Blog Week 1

A Brief History of Stadium Naming Rights 

by Ethan Trex

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20561

This blog wrote by Ethan Trex talks about how stadiums become marketing billboards capable of seating tens of thousands of people. In Ethan's blog he goes into detail about the history  of the first stadium that had naming rights, as well as valuable lessons learned from allowing corporate powerhouses to hold naming rights and the complication on whether or not Citigroup should be spending $400 million for the naming rights of the New York Mets new stadium.

I found this blog interesting as it described the history of stadium naming rights. The blog began detailing how Sportsman's Park in St. Louis (now known as Busch Stadium) was the first stadium to incorporate stadium naming rights. Then how the Houston Astros learned a valuable lesson, as they sold their stadium rights to the local energy company Enron, but bought back the naming rights because of Enron's giant scandal and fall. The part I found most interesting from Ethan Trex's blog was his mentioning of Citigroup's proposal to spend $400 million dollars for the naming rights of New York Mets new stadium for 20 years. To me this is ridiculous, due to the fact that the banking industry is failing and Citigroup needs the government to help bail them out. I do believe that there are other less expensive ways for Citigroup to advertise than for them to slap their name on a stadium, especially when their industry is begging for help from the government.