Corporate Competition

I hate corporate names on sports venues. The only one I've ever liked was the one that was on the ballpark of the minor-league Trenton Thunder from 2012 to 2021: Arm & Hammer Park. If you're going to have a company's name on a ballpark, it should be one that suggests strong pitching and heavy hitting.

It led me to ask: Has there ever been a finals in any of the "Big Four" major league sports in North America whose venues' naming rights were owned by companies in direct competition with each other?

It's never happened in the World Series. It came close this time: The Arizona Diamondbacks play at Chase Field, named for a bank; while the Texas Rangers play at Globe Life Field, named for an insurance company. It's never happened in the Super Bowl. And it's never happened in the Stanley Cup Finals.

But in the NBA, it has. In 1997, and again in 1998, the Chicago Bulls, of the United Center, beat the Utah Jazz, of the Delta Center -- both arenas named for airlines. And I had completely forgotten about this: In 2006, and again in 2011, the Finals was between the Miami Heat, whose arena was then named the American Airlines Arena; and the Dallas Mavericks, whose arena was then, and still is, named the American Airlines Center. The Heat's arena is now named the Kaseya Center: Kaseya is a software company.

If only corporations competed with each other for customers, and their customers' rights, as well as sports teams do.