The Good Old Hockey Game

NHL-hockey-season_5.jpg

Hockey. It’s the best game you can 
name – for a price.

It’s hockey time again, and fans are preparing for another season of exciting NHL action from the Vancouver Fly Emirates. Goalie Roberto Huggies Disposables will be donning his iPads and backstopping a lineup that includes Daniel and Henrik Doublemint, Ryan KFC, speedy Mason Rolaids and hot prospect Cody Puppy Chow. When the time is right, the boys will rise to the occasion, says head coach Alain Cialis.


Just a modest proposal. But full sponsor naming rights are certainly the way of the future. This year we’re getting a new one, with GM Place now gone, replaced by the remarkably similar-looking Rogers Arena. The beloved cable, phone and wireless company took over the rights for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the mid-seven figures, plus a $9.95 system access fee.


Will it work? Will local hockey supporters fall in line with the new corporate agenda and begin spouting the approved name for the Facility Formerly Known as GM Place? Short of creating a Rogers KGB squad to infiltrate crowds and enforce compliance, there’s no sure way to make fans go along. But at the very least, Rogers gets all the signage and all the broadcast mentions. Gradually, it will attempt to pound the Rogers Arena moniker into the collective consciousness. Resistance, the company sincerely hopes, is futile.


It’s the way of the modern sports economy. Once upon a happy time, athletes were serfs, and teams stayed together year after year. Fans knew their names. Everything was familiar. Then some fool told the players that the owners were actually selling tickets, and that was the end of it. This summer individual members of the champion Chicago Blackhawks were available on eBay before the parade was over. To see the way that team has scattered, you’d think the Stanley Cup was a live grenade.


So that’s the business model of the modern NHL: cash over continuity. In a cutthroat league, every revenue opportunity must be grasped. Still, wouldn’t it be nice if the corporate name had some credible connection with the city? White Spot probably couldn’t afford rights to a stadium. Lululemon didn’t make a bid – and frankly, many fans would have avoided Free Leotard Night anyway. But even among cellphone providers, Telus is Vancouver-based while Rogers is headquartered in Toronto. Was it just a matter of getting the most cash? Would the team listen to offers from anybody? If the price had been right, would the Canucks now be preparing to play in Tourism Toronto Place?


On the other hand, the facility was originally named for a Detroit-based auto company, so the precedents weren’t great. It wasn’t exactly like the attempts to stick corporate branding on beloved old facilities such as San Francisco’s Candlestick Park or Regina’s Taylor Field. And considering that the Canucks have been playing in a rink named for a recently bankrupt corporation, a name change was probably not a bad idea. 


It could be like the numerologists say: a new name can change your destiny. Will the renamed Rogers Arena bring good fortune to the Canucks? No way of knowing yet, but here’s a possible clue: for the past six years the Toronto Blue Jays have been playing in Rogers Centre. If your name is your destiny, indications are we’re screwed.


Nonetheless, the new name might just catch on with the Vancouver public. If so, the corporate world will be encouraged and may move beyond sports to seek sponsorship opportunities elsewhere. There are many activities just waiting to be rebranded. Naming rights on sex are still available. Go ahead, tell your buddies about that hot Captain Morgan’s action you were into last night. Sometimes though, I wonder whatever happened to traditional Family Channel values.


Now if you’ll excuse me, the Honda game is about to start.