Our local professional sports stadium is getting a new name. After the end of this current MLS season, Bridgeview’s Toyota Park will become SeatGeek Stadium. The 20,000 seat facility opened in 2006 and is the home to Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire and to National Women’s Soccer League’s Chicago Red Stars. Besides the new naming rights, SeatGeek, the online ticket broker, will also work with the stadium’s management to bring more events to Bridgeview including concerts, music festivals, and international sporting events.
Naming stadiums after companies is nothing new. Chicago Cubs owner and chewing gum manufacturer William Wrigley named Wrigley Field back in 1926. But selling off just the right to name a stadium, without any other ownership involved, has become more and more common in recent years. While often very expensive for corporations, naming rights also garner lots of exposure for the brand through on-camera views and audio mentions.
If you are interested in reading more about this topic, here are few resources you might find helpful. To read more about naming rights in sports in general, have a look at these articles from our Academic Search Complete database. For a more Chicago area stadium focus, try these Chicago Tribune articles. Finally, to learn even more about sports stadiums, including some local Chicago ones, this search from our library catalog will be helpful.