Most of us, sports fans or not, have heard of Yankee stadium or more locally, Oracle park. But did you know how they get named that or why it is we name things like this? Companies pay for their names to be on stadiums as a way to get advertisement for their said company, and with that, this is the business of naming stadiums.

Corporations started putting their business name on stadiums as far back as 1912 with the opening of Fenway park in Boston. The owner of the stadium owned a realty company called “Fenway Reality” so he named the Boston red sox stadium “Fenway Park” to promote his business. Which also happened to be the name of the part of Boston known as the “Fens”. 

The most money a company has paid to have their name on a stadium is a 20 year $800 million dollar deal. Scotiabank Arena, located in Toronto, Canada, has the record for the most paid stadium in the world. Meanwhile, Arco Arena in Sacramento, California, paid only $700,000 dollars to have their name on a stadium.

Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, paid upwards of $200 million dollars for the naming rights of the stadium. Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors, paid about $300 million dollars for the naming rights. Levi Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, paid around $220 million dollars for naming rights.

It seems that there aren’t many stadiums who haven’t sold their naming rights. For example, Angel stadium (Anaheim), Nationals Park (Washington), and Dodger stadium (Los Angeles) have yet to sell their naming rights to a corporation. The price doesn’t seem to change for the different sports either, between football, baseball or soccer, the cost for the naming rights can be crazy. 

Businesses spend around $200 million dollars on average for their name to be on a stadium but the thing is, $200 million dollars could actively feed about 836,000 families. That would be an ethical debate with this, either spend $200 million dollars for your name on a stadium or help hundreds of thousands of families.

All in all, businesses have a tough decision to make with their money, some donate and some buy to have their name on a stadium. If they get their name on a stadium, they get a lot of advertisement but if they donate they definitely still get a lot of people talking about their name.