Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often a sports venue ), typically for a defined period of time. For properties such as multi-purpose arenas, performing arts venues, or sports fields, the term ranges from three to 20 years. Longer terms are more common for higher profile venues such as professional sports facilities.
76-733: Capital One Arena is an indoor arena in Washington, D.C. Located in the Chinatown section of the larger Penn Quarter neighborhood, the arena sits atop the Gallery Place rapid transit station of the Washington Metro . The arena was opened on December 2, 1997, as MCI Center but renamed to Verizon Center in 2006 when MCI was acquired by Verizon Communications and changed again to its current name in 2017. Owned and operated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment , it
152-808: A sportsbook at the arena, following the 2018 legalization of sports betting in Washington. It was the first brick-and-mortar sportsbook in the District, and the first to open at a professional sports venue in the United States. On June 23, 2023, The Washington Post reported that Monumental Sports was considering moving the Capitals and Wizards to a new arena in the National Landing area of Arlington in Northern Virginia if
228-463: A title sponsor replaces the original name of the property with a corporate-sponsored one (as is the case with most sponsored sports venues), with no reference to the previous name. Stadium naming may have shifted in recent years to promoting corporate trade names, but in earlier decades is largely traced to the family names of company founders. The record for the highest amount paid for naming rights belongs to Crypto.com Arena . On November 17, 2021,
304-557: A 20-year, US$ 700 million sponsorship deal was reached between Anschutz Entertainment Group and Singapore-based Crypto.com to rename Los Angeles's Staples Center (the Staples office supply store chain was the previous naming rights holder to the arena, having held them since the venue's opening in 1999). The home of the NHL 's Los Angeles Kings and NBA 's Los Angeles Lakers became known as Crypto.com Arena on December 25, 2021. Prior to
380-499: A 60 min thrilling rink-of-dreams-style match shortly after Washington's win against New York UVA Took JMU 6–4. The inaugural 2024 Capital Hockey Classic is scheduled to take place on December 12, 2024, This event marks the first full-fledged college hockey event since the 2009 D1 Finals . It will feature military and club collegiate ice hockey teams, showcasing talent and competition. The Capital Hockey Classic aims to capture attention, especially since it occurs just two days before
456-409: A corporate-purchased name must always be referred to in all event-related media (including live broadcasts) by a generic name (e.g., General Motors Place was referred to as "Canada Hockey Place" during the 2010 Winter Olympics ). On the other hand, Toyota Stadium was referred to as "City of Toyota Stadium" during the 2019 Rugby World Cup to avoid confusion as a form of ambush marketing; the stadium
532-495: A deal with both teams' majority owner, Ted Leonsis, to keep the Capitals and Wizards in the District "at least until 2050." In May 2024, Capital One Arena was ranked as the 8th most dangerous arena based on factors including fan behavior and the crime rates for the surrounding area. The arena has been home to the Capitals NHL team since its opening. As a result, numerous memorable moments in franchise history have occurred in
608-528: A multitude of spectators. The word derives from Latin harena , a particularly fine-grained sand that covered the floor of ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome , Italy, to absorb blood. The term arena is sometimes used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadena's Rose Bowl , but such a facility is typically called a stadium . The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with
684-552: A name of the sponsor as their team or club name (see List of sports clubs named after a sponsor). In association football , leagues and cup competitions sometimes adopt the name of their sponsors. For example, England 's Premier League was known as the Barclays Premier League until 2016, and its FA Cup is officially the Emirates FA Cup. The Premier League announced in 2015 that it would not accept
760-664: A new, smaller arena in the Congress Heights area of southeast Washington. In 2024, the Mystics relocated their June 7 and September 19 games against the Indiana Fever to CapitalOne Arena, citing the demand of tickets as a result of the rising popularity of Caitlin Clark . The Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team has also played there since the arena's opening. The arena has hosted three basketball all star games:
836-603: A property in recognition of the financial support. This is not a financial transaction in the style of the private sector. For example, in honor of the more than $ 60 million donated over the years by one donor to the National Air and Space Museum properties, the directors of the Smithsonian Institution chose to name its satellite facility in Loudoun County, Virginia , after the donor, calling it
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#1732771994237912-620: A title sponsorship beginning in the 2016–17 season. Since 2020, the French Professional Football Ligue adopted the name of Ligue 1 Uber Eats . In college football , most bowl games have modified their traditional names in favor of title sponsors, and in some cases have abandoned their traditional names. While most include their traditional name in some form (e.g. the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential ), some have moved to sponsor-only names (e.g.
988-603: Is Willis Tower in Chicago which was and often still is referred to as the "Sears Tower", even though the building was sold in 1994 (but retained its former name until 2003). Sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup , UEFA Euro , Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games prohibit the use of corporate-sponsored name on stadiums, construing the practice as a form of ambush marketing . Any stadium that uses
1064-500: Is not named after Toyota Motor Corporation , but the name of the city in which the stadium is located (though the city was named after the company). The regular corporate signage of a site, including billboards and deck advertising, is usually covered up in these cases; in the FIFA case the signage is replaced solely with FIFA sponsors. However, with the near-universal use of LED ribbon boards, scoreboards, and sideline boardings since
1140-458: Is a commercial company that since 1979 has sold unofficial naming rights to stars ( i.e. , the astronomical objects ). The naming services are limited to an entry in a book, and carry no scientific or official authenticity according to professional astronomers. In some places, and especially in the UK and United States, the naming or renaming of arenas or events is usually met with disapproval from
1216-421: Is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre , musical performances , and/or sporting events . It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may be covered by a roof. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing maximum visibility. Arenas are usually designed to accommodate
1292-627: Is mixed. Naming rights sold to new venues have largely been accepted, especially if the buyer is well-established and has strong local connections to the area, such as the cases of Rich Stadium (now Highmark BlueCross BlueShield Stadium ) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park , Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh , and Coors Field in Denver . Selling the naming rights to an already-existing venue has been notably less successful, as in
1368-641: Is more widely believed to have begun in 1926 when William Wrigley , the chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs , named his team's stadium " Wrigley Field ". In 1953, Anheuser-Busch head and St. Louis Cardinals owner August Busch, Jr. proposed renaming Sportsman's Park , occupied by the Cardinals, " Budweiser Stadium". When this idea was rejected by Ford Frick , the Commissioner of Baseball at that time, Anheuser-Busch then proposed
1444-420: Is that the buyer gets a marketing property to promote products and services, promote customer retention and/or increase market share. There are several forms of corporate sponsored names. For example, a presenting sponsor attaches the name of the corporation or brand at the end (or, sometimes, beginning) of a generic, usually traditional, name (e.g. Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome ); or,
1520-500: Is the brand used by said state agency in its marketing campaign for agricultural products produced in that state. Naming rights in United States may have been traced back to 1912 with the opening of Fenway Park in Boston . The stadium's owner had owned a realty company called "Fenway Realty" (itself, like the stadium, named for a nearby parkland ), so the promotional value of the naming may have likely been considered. Despite this, it
1596-977: Is the home arena of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Georgetown University men's basketball team . It was also home to the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1998 to 2018, after which they moved to the Entertainment and Sports Arena in southeast Washington for
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#17327719942371672-559: The 2001 NBA All-Star Game and the 2002 and 2007 WNBA All-Star Games . The arena has been home to many playoff games, but has yet to host an NBA Finals . The arena has hosted games for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament several times. It hosted first- and second-round games in 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2011, and hosted the regional finals in 2006, 2013 and 2019. Most notably the 2005–06 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team from nearby Fairfax, Virginia advanced to
1748-480: The Arena Football League . The Valor folded in 2019 and the arena has not hosted an Arena League game since. The arena hosted the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships and the 2016 Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. The arena is a major location for concerts and cultural events in the D.C. region. Among the musical performers, cultural figures, and entertainment shows that have performed at
1824-751: The Army-Navy game at the nearby Commanders Field . The event will include two matches: the first game will feature Army vs Navy Club hockey At 5PM, followed by the Army Black Knights vs. the Penn State Nittany Lions. D1 Match At 7PM The arena has been home to the Wizards NBA team since its opening and was home to the Washington Mystics WNBA team from 1998 to 2018, before the Mystics moved to
1900-591: The Gator Bowl was known for four playings as the TaxSlayer Bowl), a move that generally is treated with consternation from fans. Some newer bowl games have been named after title sponsors since inception—for example, the Blockbuster Bowl , original named after Blockbuster Video when it debuted in 1990, has gone through multiple sponsorship and naming changes; for its December 2023 playing, it
1976-603: The Kentucky Farm Bureau , an organization promoting the interests of Kentucky farmers that is best known to the non-farming public for its insurance business, acquired the naming rights to the University of Kentucky 's new baseball park in 2018. The Farm Bureau in turn donated those naming rights to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture , naming the venue Kentucky Proud Park . The sponsored name
2052-605: The MBTA 's State Street station by Citizens Bank lasted from 1997 to 2000. In Tampa , naming rights for both streetcar stations and rolling stock are available. In December 2016, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a naming rights policy for its facilities and routes, but later rescinded the policy two months later over potential lawsuits for skipping sponsors. Examples outside of
2128-718: The Winston Cup Series featured sponsor names (including the Daytona 500 , which was given a presenting sponsor as the Daytona 500 by STP ), with little or no reference to the original names. As of the 2010s, very few exceptions remain in NASCAR (such as the Daytona 500, which no longer uses the presenting sponsor), and typically races without sponsor names only lack them because a suitable sponsor could not be secured in enough time. IndyCar follows suit, with most races (except
2204-844: The district of London in which it is located. While the highest prices have traditionally been paid for stadium rights, many companies and individuals have found that selling their naming rights can be an important consideration in funding their business. Since the early 2000s, many new categories have opened up, such as the selling of the rights to name a new monkey species for $ 650,000. Naming rights to public transit stations have been sold in Las Vegas and Philadelphia ( NRG station , Jefferson Station , and Penn Medicine station ). Such sales have been contemplated in New York and Boston , and ruled out in San Francisco. A sponsorship for
2280-594: The 2009 Eastern Conference semifinals between the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins , played on May 4, 2009, saw dueling hat tricks from Ovechkin and rival Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins , culminating in a 4–3 victory for Washington thanks to an additional goal from David Steckel . The arena also hosted games three and four of the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals . The Capitals won both games and then went on to win game five in Las Vegas to capture
2356-418: The 2019 season. Though the arena project was a commercial success for its backers, it has contributed to the gentrification of the surrounding area, the displacement of most of its Asian-American residents (the local Chinese-American population, which numbered over 3,000 before the arena's construction, was a mere 300 in 2023), and the replacement of most of the small businesses and restaurants that served
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2432-550: The Asian-American community by large national corporations. The block where the arena was built, between 6th and 7th and F and G Streets, historically held a mix of residences and small businesses. By the 1960s, it was suffering from urban decay , like much of the eastern end of Downtown Washington . In 1973, while the Gallery Place Metro station was being developed below it, the District government bought
2508-758: The Capital One Arena, and has caused significant community backlash. In December 2007, then-Capitals captain Chris Clark stated that he believed the arena had the worst ice in the NHL. "There's a lot of ruts in the ice. It's soft. It's wet half the time. I could see a lot of injuries coming from the ice there. It could cost [players] their jobs... Even guys on other teams say the same thing. When we're facing off, they say, 'How do you guys play on this?'" Capitals owner Ted Leonsis addressed this criticism directly. The ice quality issue has been persistent both since
2584-583: The Creator , Elton John , Usher , Green Day , blink-182 , The Who , Bad Bunny , Billie Eilish , Dua Lipa , Harry Styles , Trans-Siberian Orchestra , Cage the Elephant , Monster Jam , Disney on Ice , K-POP groups Ateez , Seventeen , NCT DREAM , Jonas Brothers , AJR , IU , Howard University graduation speech by U.S. President Joe Biden , and a Michelle Obama book tour event. The Washington International Horse Show took place every October in
2660-861: The Crypto.com Arena deal, the record belonged to Toronto's Scotiabank Arena (formerly the Air Canada Centre, which opened in 1999), which garnered a deal of CA$ 800 million (US$ 517 million) over 20 years starting in 2018. The New Meadowlands Stadium, shared home of the New York Giants and New York Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey , US, was expected to eclipse both deals, with experts estimating it would value US$ 25–30 million annually. It ultimately fell short of that benchmark, with MetLife Stadium earning $ 17 million annually from its naming rights deal with MetLife . Occasionally,
2736-487: The Evraz steel company – mistakenly believing that the company's North American division was based there. However, the main motivation for accelerating the name change was the perceived need to disassociate with the steel company, largely owned by Russian oligarchs, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . A nonprofit organization has the option to recognize a major gift from a donor by bestowing naming rights to
2812-620: The Final Four in the arena. The arena also hosted the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament in 2018 and 2022. It hosted the ACC men's basketball tournament in 2005, 2016, and 2024. In 2017 the arena hosted the Big Ten men's basketball tournament . The Harlem Globetrotters play in the arena on an annual basis. In the professional fighting world, the arena has hosted WWE events, as well as
2888-645: The Leonsis group, newly organized as Monumental Sports & Entertainment , bought out Pollin's interests, gaining full ownership of the arena and the Wizards. A report emerged in May 2015 that Verizon would not renew its naming rights to the Verizon Center when its agreement with Monumental was to end in 2018. In the same week, it was announced that Etihad Airways signed a deal to become the official airline of
2964-582: The MCI National Sports Gallery, an interactive sports museum with interactive games, memorabilia, and the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame inside from 1998 to 2000 or 2001 which was repurposed for office space. Clinton toured the gallery before the game, playing the museum games. A block of F Street NW between 6th and 7th Street NW outside the arena was declared Fun Street, complete with signage. This block later
3040-540: The November 2004 elections that essentially stipulated the name must revert to Candlestick Park once the contract with Monster expired in 2008. The initiative proved largely ceremonial, however, and it was overturned by the passage of Proposition C in 2009 in response to desperate economic times. The naming rights to the park were never resold and the stadium was closed and demolished in 2014. Sports stadiums with naming rights deals are most common in but not limited to
3116-560: The Stanley Cup for the first major sports championship for a Washington, D.C. team since the 1991 Washington Redskins . The Capitals had their Stanley Cup banner installation ceremony in the arena before their first game of the next season, which took place on October 3, 2018. The arena hosted the 2009 "Frozen Four", the final round of the 2009 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament Boston University took Miami OH in overtime 4–3. The JMU vs UVA non-varsity club teams played
Capital One Arena - Misplaced Pages Continue
3192-627: The United States include Madrid Metro where the metro line Line 2 and the station Sol was renamed from 2013 to 2016 after the mobile phone operator Vodafone , and Monumento Station in the Manila Light Rail Transit System in the Philippines , which was renamed Yamaha Monumento Station on February 14, 2018, after renovations. Naming rights in the realm of sports is common for both stadiums and sports competitions and series. In addition, some sports teams adopt
3268-582: The United States. "Named" stadiums can be found in countries including Australia, Japan, China, Finland, Canada, Israel and Germany, where 8 of the 10 largest football stadiums have their naming rights sold to corporate sponsors. The practice is widening in the United Kingdom; for instance the current stadium of Bolton Wanderers is the Toughsheet Community Stadium (after 17 years as Reebok Stadium, 4 as Macron Stadium and 5 as
3344-542: The University of Bolton stadium) and Arsenal Football Club 's stadium (opened for the 2006/2007 season) is the Emirates Stadium , their previous ground being Arsenal Stadium . In cricket, the most famous example is The Oval , home of Surrey County Cricket Club . It has had several sponsors over the years, and is currently known as "The Kia Oval", having originally been known as the "Kennington Oval", after
3420-411: The Washington, D.C. government did not invest in upgrades to the arena and surrounding area. Despite this, the article outlined that the city intended on continuing its dialogue with the company to keep both teams in Capital One Arena. Monumental later pivoted to a part of the National Landing area lying in a different Northern Virginia jurisdiction, announcing on December 13, 2023, that it planned to build
3496-435: The Wizards (then known as the Washington Bullets) played at USAir Arena in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland . The teams experienced subpar attendance because the location was inconvenient for both Washington and Baltimore residents, and their arena, though only 20 years old, was not up to the standards of other NBA and NHL venues. In December 1993, Abe Pollin , the owner of both teams, began studying options to move
3572-470: The arena are Olivia Rodrigo , Duran Duran , Ricardo Arjona , Kylie Minogue , Janet Jackson , Mariah Carey , Muse , Paul McCartney , Queen , U2 , Iron Maiden , Shakira , Lady Gaga , Madonna , Britney Spears , The Three Tenors , Drake , Barbra Streisand , Bon Jovi , Prince , Tim McGraw , Faith Hill , Beyoncé , the Dalai Lama , Tina Turner , Keith Urban , Paul Simon , Sting , The Police , Taylor Swift , Tame Impala , Coldplay , Tyler,
3648-410: The arena for more than 20 years through 2019, after which it was moved out because of the COVID-19 pandemic . When the arena opened, there was concern that it would lead to the displacement of Chinese businesses and culture in the area that is the city's Chinatown . The surrounding area has indeed been dramatically gentrified , and most of the Chinese residents and businesses who lived and operated in
3724-471: The arena's name was changed accordingly to Verizon Center . VIDA Fitness opened its first location in the arena that same year. The following year, in 2007, the "first true indoor high-definition LED scoreboard " was installed in the arena. In May 2024, VIDA Fitness announced that they would close their Gallery Place location. Gallery Place, a 14-screen movie theater, opened at Capital One Arena in 2004. In June 2010, following Pollin's death in November 2009,
3800-431: The arena, sparking speculation that Etihad might be the leading contender to assume naming rights in 2017. However, on August 9, 2017, it was announced that the bank Capital One had purchased the rights, renaming the venue Capital One Arena. In October 2024, it was revealed that Etihad Airways is no longer the official airline for Capital One Arena as United Airlines (which operates a hub at Dulles International Airport )
3876-420: The arena. The arena hosted games three and four of the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals , when the Capitals lost to the Detroit Red Wings in four games. The Red Wings hoisted the namesake Stanley Cup in the arena on June 16, 1998, after winning game four by a score of 4–1. On April 5, 2008, the Capitals won the Southeast Division in the last game of the regular season, after beating the Florida Panthers 3–1. Game 2 of
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#17327719942373952-431: The attempt to rename Candlestick Park in San Francisco to 3Com Park. The general public (and some media outlets) continued to call the facility what it had been known as for over three decades – i.e. Candlestick Park. After the agreement with 3Com expired, the rights were resold to Monster Cable , and the stadium was renamed Monster Park . San Francisco voters responded by passing an initiative (Proposition H) in
4028-441: The building, which ultimately came to $ 200 million (US$ 365 million in 2023 dollars). The District would pay for other costs, including purchasing the portion of the land it did not already own, preparing the site, and expanding the Metro station; these eventually amounted to $ 79 million (US$ 138 million in 2023 dollars). The District leased the land to Pollin at a below-market rate of $ 300,000 per year. A naming rights deal
4104-401: The facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium . Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces and seating capacities found in stadiums, are generally not referred to as arenas in North America. There is also the sport of indoor American football (one variant of which is explicitly known as arena football), a variant of the outdoor game that is designed for
4180-465: The final four editions of WCW 's Starrcade . The arena has hosted Backlash in 2000 , SummerSlam in 2005 , Cyber Sunday in 2007 , Survivor Series in 2009 , Capitol Punishment in 2011, and Battleground in 2016 . The arena frequently hosts Raw and SmackDown shows as well. The arena was also home to Mike Tyson 's final non-exhibition fight ( Mike Tyson vs. Kevin McBride ) on June 11, 2005. On October 1, 2011, UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson
4256-409: The general public. Some people see it as an example of a selling out , especially when they see no obvious benefit to themselves. They often refuse to use a new name, preferring instead to use a non-branded name, especially in colloquial situations. Rebranding can also lead to confusion. In such cases, there may be a lengthy period during which the property is known by both names. A common example
4332-403: The land in hopes of redeveloping it. Capital Landmark Associates was selected in 1979 to develop the site with a planned mixed-use complex including retail, offices, apartments, and a hotel. Most of the remaining buildings on the site were demolished in 1985. The project languished for many years but never materialized, and was finally canceled in 1992. Before the arena's opening, the Capitals and
4408-410: The mid-2000s in most major league sites where only known sponsors have advertising displayed, "neutralizing" an arena has become a much easier process than in the past. Regina, Saskatchewan 's REAL District was formerly named " Evraz Place"; when discussing its 2022 rebranding, its owner Regina Exhibition Association Limited stated that it had sometimes received shipments and communications meant for
4484-434: The naming rights after selling the team) was able to use the same name for the Cardinals' new stadium which opened on April 4, 2006. Foxboro Stadium , the home of the New England Patriots between 1971 and 2001, was an early example of a team selling naming rights to a company that did not own it, naming the stadium Schaefer Stadium after the beer company from its opening until 1983. The public reaction to this practice
4560-476: The neighborhood when the arena first opened have been displaced because of the spike in real estate prices. 2011 estimates hold that the number of Chinese in the neighborhood is down to around 400 to 500. The Chinese-owned restaurants and businesses in the Chinatown area are largely gone and there has not been a full-service Chinese grocery in the neighborhood since 2005. A similar stadium project proposed for Philadelphia's Chinatown sparked comparisons in 2023 to
4636-517: The new arena in the Potomac Yard area of Alexandria . Under the revised plan, Capital One Arena would have remained in use as a concert and event venue during the NBA and NHL seasons, and also become the permanent home of Monumental's Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, the Washington Mystics . In March 2024, after officials in Alexandria announced that the $ 2 billion entertainment and sports complex plans were scrapped, Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she had signed
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#17327719942374712-403: The opening of the facility and with the Capitals franchise in general. Since Leonsis' acquisition of the facility, the quality of the ice has improved and number of complaints has noticeably decreased. During playoff games, the arena installs additional portable refrigeration units outside the arena to aid the ice conditions during the warm and humid summer months. Indoor arena An arena
4788-452: The program ; examples include The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour , Texaco Star Theatre and The Philco Television Playhouse . This form of sponsorship fell out of favor in the late 1950s, although later examples include Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom , which originally aired from 1963 to 1988. One of the last surviving examples is the now irregularly-airing Hallmark Hall of Fame , on the air since 1951. The International Star Registry
4864-474: The purchaser of a stadium's naming rights may choose to donate those rights to an outside organization, typically one to which it is closely related. Probably the most notable example of this is Friends Arena , a major stadium in Stockholm . The facility was originally known as Swedbank Arena, but in 2012 that company donated those rights to the Friends Foundation, an organization heavily sponsored by Swedbank that seeks to combat school bullying . More recently,
4940-439: The teams to a new arena to be built with public financing, with possible locations including Baltimore, downtown Washington, and Laurel, Maryland . A group of Washington business leaders brokered a deal between Pollin and the District government to build an arena at the Gallery Place site, with the District paying for the $ 150 million project, which was envisioned to have shopping, food, and exhibitors for daily use even when there
5016-573: The title "Busch Stadium" after one of the company's founders. The name was readily approved, and Anheuser-Busch subsequently released a new product called "Busch Bavarian Beer" (now known as Busch Beer ). The name would later be shifted to the Busch Memorial Stadium in 1966 , shortened in the 1970s to "Busch Stadium" and remained the stadium's name until it closed in 2005. By that time, Major League Baseball 's policy had changed – with Coors Field in Denver and Miller Park in Milwaukee going up in that span – and Anheuser-Busch (who retained
5092-474: The type of event. Football (be it association , rugby , gridiron , Australian rules , or Gaelic ) is typically played in a stadium, while basketball , volleyball , handball , and ice hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of the larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. There are exceptions. The home of the Duke University men's and women's basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but
5168-599: The usual smaller playing surface of most arenas; variants of other traditionally outdoor sports, including box lacrosse as well as futsal and indoor soccer , also exist. The term "arena" is also used loosely to refer to any event or type of event which either literally or metaphorically takes place in such a location, often with the specific intent of comparing an idea to a sporting event. Such examples of these would be terms such as "the arena of war", "the arena of love" or "the political arena". Naming rights The distinctive characteristic for this type of naming rights
5244-447: The very traditional Indianapolis 500 ) embracing title sponsorship. Sports media coverage (such as ESPN news reports) typically refer to races by the town in which the home race track is held, avoiding the use of sponsored names in news coverage. Television and radio series, especially in the early days of each medium in the early-mid 20th century, frequently sold the naming rights to their programs to sponsors, most of whom bankrolled
5320-433: Was chosen as the new official airline. In 2019 and 2020, Monumental Sports undertook a $ 30 million renovation of the stadium. This included completely replacing the arena's seating, improving the concourse, and altering many of the arena's dining options. A new, larger overhead video board was also added as well as a new SkyRing video screen that goes around the top of the arena. In July 2020, bookmaker William Hill opened
5396-539: Was declared Abe Pollin Way in 2007. The arena was noted for building spectator seats vertically rather than out, creating better views for all attending albeit with limited leg room in the upper levels, as well as spacious quarters for players and coaches with advanced competitive research technology. The arena concourse featured multimedia arenaNet stations where fans could check scores, watch highlights, and send digital postcards over email. These replaced an abandoned idea to have smart seats with televisions and technology that
5472-496: Was held at the arena. On December 7, 2019, UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik was held at the arena. On October 2, 2019, Capital One Arena hosted AEW Dynamite , the first televised professional wrestling event by All Elite Wrestling . It was broadcast on TNT in the United States of America and on ITV4 in the United Kingdom. In 2017, the Washington Valor began play at the arena for their inaugural season in
5548-840: Was known as the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Team names and even whole leagues have occasionally been sold to corporate sponsors as well (examples include the New York Red Bulls in the former case, the NET10 Wireless Arena Football League for the latter), but this is generally rare in the United States and more common in other parts of the world. During the 1980s, sanctioned auto races in NASCAR and IndyCar began to abandon their traditional names in favor of exclusive sponsor names. The trend expanded rapidly in NASCAR such that in 1991, all 29 races in
5624-455: Was no arena event. The D.C. Council approved a special tax on businesses to finance the deal. However, a competing proposal soon emerged, when Robert Johnson , head of Black Entertainment Television , offered to build the arena with mostly private financing. With the arena deal facing criticism amid the District's budget crisis , Pollin eventually agreed to privately fund the construction of
5700-566: Was scrapped due to technological challenges. Arena technology was powered by a virtual LAN software and switching technology called ArenaNET from Cabletron Systems . In 1999, a group led by technology executive Ted Leonsis bought a 36% stake in Pollin's holdings, including the MCI Center, as well as full ownership of the Capitals. The Leonsis group increased its stake to 44% in 2000. In January 2006, Verizon Communications purchased MCI and
5776-584: Was struck with MCI Communications to name the arena as the MCI Center . The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in October 1995. On December 2, 1997, the arena held its first event, a game between the Wizards and the Seattle SuperSonics , with President Bill Clinton in attendance. The arena had a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m) Discovery Channel Store from 1998 to 2001 and
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