What's in a Name: Money

By Carolyn Sayre

Goodbye Delta Center. Hello, Energy Solutions Arena. The NBA's Utah Jazz has sold naming rights to its Salt Lake City home to Energy Solutions, a leader in nuclear-waste disposal, for unspecified millions. The move has spurred fans to suggest nicknames like the Glow Dome and the Melta Center, proof that the lucrative name game can be unpredictable. Ballparks don't always get a pretty moniker--and companies don't always get what they paid for.

SECONDARY RIGHTS Today, even high school facilities get branded. When Vernon Hills High near Chicago needed a new stadium, a local paintmaker donated $100,000. Teams now play at the gratefully named Rust-Oleum Field.

NICKNAMES ARE FREE For $100 million plus, the Houston Astros' stadium will officially be called Minute Maid Park until 2030. To fans, it's the Juice Box. Another case: the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium is nicknamed the Razor.

ARIZONA CAN'T GRADUATE The Cardinals long bore the stigma of being the only NFL team to play on a college field (Sun Devil Stadium). Now it has its own turf, sporting the ironic name of a sponsor that paid $155 million: University of Phoenix Stadium.

OLD NAMES DIE HARD Some ballparks are forever. Most Chicago White Sox partisans still refer to home as Comiskey Park, which was demolished in '91, not U.S. Cellular Field. To S.F. 49ers fans, Monster Park will always be Candlestick.