Dharmabum
Well-Known Member
- Aug 16, 2003
- 8,274
- 12,242
In these days of finding - or shall we say cashing in on - a name for Spurs' new stadium....here is a guide to names that may best be avoided...
http://www.eurosport.com/all-sports/top-20-funny-stadium-names_sto4708143/story.shtml
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/11-weirdest-stadium-names
http://www.sportingnews.com/other-s...um-taco-bell-arena/1hujyc2ubxqvp1i0b994h9phqv
http://www.goal.com/en/news/2377/top-10/2010/04/11/1873496/top-10-wacky-football-stadium-names
Bumthang Stadium (Bhutan)
Football is growing all the time in Bhutan but is lagging in the popularity
stakes behind archery. A few arrows to whoever dreamed up the Bumthang stadium name may just help though.
KitKat Crescent (York City - England)
The picturesque city of York has many things going for it, like the Nestle
factory which bailed out the local football club in 2005. Bootham Crescent
became KitKat Crescent and while hardcore fans were horrified it was, ahem again, a break for the strugglers. Incidentally, there is another team in the same area called Nestle Rowntree Football Club.
Pizza Hut Park - Texas, USA
Nicknamed "The Oven" by fans of the resident FC Dallas MLS team. If the players turn up 30 minutes late, you get your ticket for free.
Easy Credit Stadion - Nuremberg, Germany
The home of 1. FC Nuremberg would be a perfect name for a new Manchester United stadium if they ever leave Old Trafford and the Glazers needs to refinance some more loans.
Jobing.com Arena - Arizona, USA
Home of the Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team. Given the price of sports tickets these days though, we doubt there is too many unemployed people going to the games.
Whataburger Field - Texas, USA
Whataterrible name for the home of the Corpus Christi Hooks minor league baseball team.
SportsDirect.Com @ St James' Park Stadium - Newcastle, England
Two words explain the reason for this abomination: One is "Mike" the other is "Ashley."
Wankdorf Stadium - Berne, Switzerland
Wankdorf Stadium? Home of the Young Boys of Berne? Must. Avoid. Obvious. Jokes.
Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion - Almere, Netherlands
Well if the fans of Almere City aren't able to lift the roof?
Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium - Graz, Austria
Local team Strum Graz named their stadium after their city's most famous son, only to then revoke it in 2005 when Arnie refused to stop an execution as governor of California.
Hunky Dorys Park - Drogheda, Ireland
Drogheda United won the League of Ireland for the first time in 2007 when their ground was simply called "United Park." Since then they have gone in and out of examinership and are currently bottom of the league. Not everything so 'Hunky Dory' (an Irish crisp brand) on the pitch then.
Cashpoint Arena - Altach, Austria
The home of Cashpoint SC Rheindorf Altach. To use text speak: They're not that good ATM.
Bargain Booze Stadium - Northwich, England
Witton Albion changed the name of their Wincham Park ground for a couple of seasons to this doozy...or should that be boozy?
KitKat Crescent - York, England
York City 'had a break' from their usual "Bootham Crescent" name for a five-year period from 2005-2010.
Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Colorado, USA
The home of the MLS side the Colorado Rapids. Arsenal fans beware though, they are owned by Stan Kroenke, one of the Gunners' main shareholders. That rather arguable deal with Emirates won't last forever you know!
Quicken Loans Arena - Cleveland, USA
The home of the Cleveland Cavaliers is nicknamed "The Q" by fans. However, there hasn't been too many "Qs" around the ticket office since LeBron James left.
Petco Park - San Diego, USA
Home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, strange that Petco decided to sponsor one of the few American teams not named after an animal.
Middelfart Stadium - Middlefart, Denmark
The 'atmosphere' at this ground is always said to very intimidating.
Hotto Motto Field - Kobe, Japan
We won't dwell on this baseball stadium's name for too long. After all, it was called the "Yahoo! Baseball Stadium" between 2003-2004."
Gaylord Entertainment Center - Nashville, USA
Now renamed the more acceptable Bridgestone Arena; but from 1999-2007 those big, nasty, butch hockey players from the Nashville Predators ensured it was never easy to come away from the Gaylord Entertainment Center with a result.
The Dripping Pan - Lewes, England
We can't decide whether this is the greatest or worst name for a football ground going. The East Sussex ground has been named 'The Dripping Pan' since it opened way back in 1885.
Kuntz Stadium - Indianapolis, USA
Tony Macaroni Arena, Livingston
There are elements of the rampant commercialisation of football that most fans grudgingly accept: gruelling pre-season tours to appease Asian-based Official Noodle Partners; dog silhouettes waddling across electronic ad billboards, distracting you from the action; and – on the whole – stadium naming rights.
The Emirates, Etihad and so forth all trip off the tongue without too much bitterness, sound vaguely “real”, and are at least funded by firms with a veneer of quality; no doubt when White Hart Lane or Stamford Bridge are replaced by “the Rolex” or “the Qatar”, it’ll seem odd, but eventually blow over.
Occasionally, though, a group of men in suits hand over a sum of money to another, more desperate group of men in suits – and the result belittles a once-proud sporting venue. The Lothian seat of Almondvale becoming the Tony Macaroni Arena this year is surely this phenomenon’s nadir: it’s a pathetic name for a chain of Italian restaurants, possibly thought up by a xenophobic six-year old, and for a football stadium is simply unbearable – just like the eye-watering Twitter puns that followed (@LiviFCOfficial: “this is all getting fusilli now!”)
Huge shame on everyone involved.
The Dripping Pan, Lewes
How did the home of Ryman Premier League side Lewes FC get its marvellous name? Well, it’s thought that local monks from the priory used to pan for salt at the base of the natural bowl carved into the lovely South Downs National Park.
From the stands, you can enjoy a fine vista: chalk cliffs and the town’s impressive Norman Castle, while FourFourTwo recently paid a visit to their latest innovation: corporate beach huts, which for £40 a head gets you a great view, cracking meal, and a mini bar stocked with the local brew, Harvey’s Blue Label. Great name, great day out.
Molineux, Wolverhampton
Familiarity has bred immunity to the wonderfully enigmatic moniker of Wolves’ home. Many a young scholar of the game – trawling through an old Rothmans annual in an attempt to learn every English football stadium, perhaps – will have paused amid the boring old Victoria Grounds and Vicarage Roads, and marvelled at Molineux. What can it mean? How is it pronounced? Why does it sound vaguely French, or like the name of a high-end chocolatier?
The truth is, it’s not much different to a modern-day Madejski: Benjamin Molineux was a Midlands merchant who in the 1740s bought the land upon which the stadium would eventually be built. It nevertheless remains evocative: the day it becomes the We Buy Any Car Arena, we may as well all pack up and go home.
Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium, Dumbarton
Scotland’s fourth-oldest club has got a lovely home next door to Dumbarton Castle, which is situated on a 204ft volcanic rock plug and dates back to before the Iron Age.
Fans of The Sons have had to endure a raft of name changes, though, including the ‘Strathclyde Homes stadium’, ‘Dumbarton football stadium’, ‘Dumbarton football stadium sponsored by DL Cameron’, ‘BetButler stadium’, and now – worst of all – the ‘Cheaper Insurance Direct’.
Sensibly and stoically, locals just call it ‘The Rock’, but the side is soon to build another bowl, out of town, with the current location being turned into housing. Watch this space for their next trick.
Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury
Let’s keep homophobia out of football here: Shrewsbury’s old home was indeed built on a pretty former meadow, where fairs and carnivals brought forth gaiety in the old sense of the word – and eventually led to the least-threatening sounding football ground moniker in England.
Gay Meadow was a beautifully picturesque traditional stadium, where one could wistfully watch a bloke in a coracle fishing wayward shots out of the river Severn. But modernity eventually caught up with the Shrews, who in 2007 moved to the out-of-town (and grammatically displeasing) Greenhous Meadow. A shame.
Guaranteed Rate Field
Location: Chicago
Home of: Chicago White Sox (beginning in 2017)
The mortgage lender's logo has a downward-pointing arrow. Not the greatest image for a professional sports team trying to make a lot of money.
Little Caesars Arena
Location: Detroit
Home of: Detroit Red Wings (beginning 2017)
The Red Wings go from Joe Louis Arena to this? Blame Mike Ilitch, the Red Wings owner and founder of Little Caesars.
KFC Yum! Center
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Home of: University of Louisville men's and women's basketball
The KFC Yum! Center sounds more like a mall food court than a sports facility. Sorry, Louisville.
O.co Coliseum (2011-2015)
Location: Oakland, Calif.
Home of: Oakland A's, Oakland Raiders
Luckily for the A's and Raiders, the facility is now called Oakland Coliseum as of April 2.
Smoothie King Center
Location: New Orleans
Home of: New Orleans Pelicans
Any food-related stadium name is already cringe-worthy, but this is really bad. A Louisiana-based food chain (Popeye's, anyone?) would've been more appropriate, if better.
Taco Bell Arena
Location: Boise, Idaho
Home of: Boise State basketball
Is there even a Taco Bell in Boise?
Sleep Train Arena (1988-2016)
Location: Sacramento, Calif.
Home of: Sacramento Kings
The Kings are moving to a new home called the Golden 1 Center, a vast improvement. It even fits in with the regal theme: Kings, the "Golden 1". Get it?
Jobing.com Arena (2006-14)
Location: Glendale, Ariz.
Home of: Phoenix Coyotes
If Jobing.com Arena was bad, the new name isn't better. This facility is now called Gila River Arena.
Talking Stick Resort Arena
Home of: Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury
Talking Stick Resort is an Arizona thing, so let's hope it stays that way and that name doesn't spread to other sports facilities.
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Home of: University of Louisville football
First, the KFC Yum! Center, now this? The University of Louisville got the brunt of the bad names.
Whataburger Field
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
Home of: Corpus Christi Hooks (Texas League baseball)
The burgers better be darn good to name a baseball stadium after them.NEXT
Bright House Networks Stadium
Location: Orlando
Home of: University of Central Florida football
Bright House is one of the better cable providers out there, but on a college campus? Can't UCF come up with a legacy name for its field?
InfoCision Stadium
Location: Akron, Ohio
Home of: University of Akron football
The full name of the Zips' football home is InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field. Basically just word vomit.
PSINet Stadium (1999-2002)
Location: Baltimore
Home of: Baltimore Ravens
This place is now called M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens got a name upgrade.
http://www.eurosport.com/all-sports/top-20-funny-stadium-names_sto4708143/story.shtml
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/11-weirdest-stadium-names
http://www.sportingnews.com/other-s...um-taco-bell-arena/1hujyc2ubxqvp1i0b994h9phqv
http://www.goal.com/en/news/2377/top-10/2010/04/11/1873496/top-10-wacky-football-stadium-names
Bumthang Stadium (Bhutan)
Football is growing all the time in Bhutan but is lagging in the popularity
stakes behind archery. A few arrows to whoever dreamed up the Bumthang stadium name may just help though.
KitKat Crescent (York City - England)
The picturesque city of York has many things going for it, like the Nestle
factory which bailed out the local football club in 2005. Bootham Crescent
became KitKat Crescent and while hardcore fans were horrified it was, ahem again, a break for the strugglers. Incidentally, there is another team in the same area called Nestle Rowntree Football Club.
Pizza Hut Park - Texas, USA
Nicknamed "The Oven" by fans of the resident FC Dallas MLS team. If the players turn up 30 minutes late, you get your ticket for free.
Easy Credit Stadion - Nuremberg, Germany
The home of 1. FC Nuremberg would be a perfect name for a new Manchester United stadium if they ever leave Old Trafford and the Glazers needs to refinance some more loans.
Jobing.com Arena - Arizona, USA
Home of the Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team. Given the price of sports tickets these days though, we doubt there is too many unemployed people going to the games.
Whataburger Field - Texas, USA
Whataterrible name for the home of the Corpus Christi Hooks minor league baseball team.
SportsDirect.Com @ St James' Park Stadium - Newcastle, England
Two words explain the reason for this abomination: One is "Mike" the other is "Ashley."
Wankdorf Stadium - Berne, Switzerland
Wankdorf Stadium? Home of the Young Boys of Berne? Must. Avoid. Obvious. Jokes.
Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion - Almere, Netherlands
Well if the fans of Almere City aren't able to lift the roof?
Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium - Graz, Austria
Local team Strum Graz named their stadium after their city's most famous son, only to then revoke it in 2005 when Arnie refused to stop an execution as governor of California.
Hunky Dorys Park - Drogheda, Ireland
Drogheda United won the League of Ireland for the first time in 2007 when their ground was simply called "United Park." Since then they have gone in and out of examinership and are currently bottom of the league. Not everything so 'Hunky Dory' (an Irish crisp brand) on the pitch then.
Cashpoint Arena - Altach, Austria
The home of Cashpoint SC Rheindorf Altach. To use text speak: They're not that good ATM.
Bargain Booze Stadium - Northwich, England
Witton Albion changed the name of their Wincham Park ground for a couple of seasons to this doozy...or should that be boozy?
KitKat Crescent - York, England
York City 'had a break' from their usual "Bootham Crescent" name for a five-year period from 2005-2010.
Dick's Sporting Goods Park - Colorado, USA
The home of the MLS side the Colorado Rapids. Arsenal fans beware though, they are owned by Stan Kroenke, one of the Gunners' main shareholders. That rather arguable deal with Emirates won't last forever you know!
Quicken Loans Arena - Cleveland, USA
The home of the Cleveland Cavaliers is nicknamed "The Q" by fans. However, there hasn't been too many "Qs" around the ticket office since LeBron James left.
Petco Park - San Diego, USA
Home of the San Diego Padres baseball team, strange that Petco decided to sponsor one of the few American teams not named after an animal.
Middelfart Stadium - Middlefart, Denmark
The 'atmosphere' at this ground is always said to very intimidating.
Hotto Motto Field - Kobe, Japan
We won't dwell on this baseball stadium's name for too long. After all, it was called the "Yahoo! Baseball Stadium" between 2003-2004."
Gaylord Entertainment Center - Nashville, USA
Now renamed the more acceptable Bridgestone Arena; but from 1999-2007 those big, nasty, butch hockey players from the Nashville Predators ensured it was never easy to come away from the Gaylord Entertainment Center with a result.
The Dripping Pan - Lewes, England
We can't decide whether this is the greatest or worst name for a football ground going. The East Sussex ground has been named 'The Dripping Pan' since it opened way back in 1885.
Kuntz Stadium - Indianapolis, USA
Tony Macaroni Arena, Livingston
There are elements of the rampant commercialisation of football that most fans grudgingly accept: gruelling pre-season tours to appease Asian-based Official Noodle Partners; dog silhouettes waddling across electronic ad billboards, distracting you from the action; and – on the whole – stadium naming rights.
The Emirates, Etihad and so forth all trip off the tongue without too much bitterness, sound vaguely “real”, and are at least funded by firms with a veneer of quality; no doubt when White Hart Lane or Stamford Bridge are replaced by “the Rolex” or “the Qatar”, it’ll seem odd, but eventually blow over.
Occasionally, though, a group of men in suits hand over a sum of money to another, more desperate group of men in suits – and the result belittles a once-proud sporting venue. The Lothian seat of Almondvale becoming the Tony Macaroni Arena this year is surely this phenomenon’s nadir: it’s a pathetic name for a chain of Italian restaurants, possibly thought up by a xenophobic six-year old, and for a football stadium is simply unbearable – just like the eye-watering Twitter puns that followed (@LiviFCOfficial: “this is all getting fusilli now!”)
Huge shame on everyone involved.
The Dripping Pan, Lewes
How did the home of Ryman Premier League side Lewes FC get its marvellous name? Well, it’s thought that local monks from the priory used to pan for salt at the base of the natural bowl carved into the lovely South Downs National Park.
From the stands, you can enjoy a fine vista: chalk cliffs and the town’s impressive Norman Castle, while FourFourTwo recently paid a visit to their latest innovation: corporate beach huts, which for £40 a head gets you a great view, cracking meal, and a mini bar stocked with the local brew, Harvey’s Blue Label. Great name, great day out.
Molineux, Wolverhampton
Familiarity has bred immunity to the wonderfully enigmatic moniker of Wolves’ home. Many a young scholar of the game – trawling through an old Rothmans annual in an attempt to learn every English football stadium, perhaps – will have paused amid the boring old Victoria Grounds and Vicarage Roads, and marvelled at Molineux. What can it mean? How is it pronounced? Why does it sound vaguely French, or like the name of a high-end chocolatier?
The truth is, it’s not much different to a modern-day Madejski: Benjamin Molineux was a Midlands merchant who in the 1740s bought the land upon which the stadium would eventually be built. It nevertheless remains evocative: the day it becomes the We Buy Any Car Arena, we may as well all pack up and go home.
Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium, Dumbarton
Scotland’s fourth-oldest club has got a lovely home next door to Dumbarton Castle, which is situated on a 204ft volcanic rock plug and dates back to before the Iron Age.
Fans of The Sons have had to endure a raft of name changes, though, including the ‘Strathclyde Homes stadium’, ‘Dumbarton football stadium’, ‘Dumbarton football stadium sponsored by DL Cameron’, ‘BetButler stadium’, and now – worst of all – the ‘Cheaper Insurance Direct’.
Sensibly and stoically, locals just call it ‘The Rock’, but the side is soon to build another bowl, out of town, with the current location being turned into housing. Watch this space for their next trick.
Gay Meadow, Shrewsbury
Let’s keep homophobia out of football here: Shrewsbury’s old home was indeed built on a pretty former meadow, where fairs and carnivals brought forth gaiety in the old sense of the word – and eventually led to the least-threatening sounding football ground moniker in England.
Gay Meadow was a beautifully picturesque traditional stadium, where one could wistfully watch a bloke in a coracle fishing wayward shots out of the river Severn. But modernity eventually caught up with the Shrews, who in 2007 moved to the out-of-town (and grammatically displeasing) Greenhous Meadow. A shame.
Guaranteed Rate Field
Location: Chicago
Home of: Chicago White Sox (beginning in 2017)
The mortgage lender's logo has a downward-pointing arrow. Not the greatest image for a professional sports team trying to make a lot of money.
Little Caesars Arena
Location: Detroit
Home of: Detroit Red Wings (beginning 2017)
The Red Wings go from Joe Louis Arena to this? Blame Mike Ilitch, the Red Wings owner and founder of Little Caesars.
KFC Yum! Center
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Home of: University of Louisville men's and women's basketball
The KFC Yum! Center sounds more like a mall food court than a sports facility. Sorry, Louisville.
O.co Coliseum (2011-2015)
Location: Oakland, Calif.
Home of: Oakland A's, Oakland Raiders
Luckily for the A's and Raiders, the facility is now called Oakland Coliseum as of April 2.
Smoothie King Center
Location: New Orleans
Home of: New Orleans Pelicans
Any food-related stadium name is already cringe-worthy, but this is really bad. A Louisiana-based food chain (Popeye's, anyone?) would've been more appropriate, if better.
Taco Bell Arena
Location: Boise, Idaho
Home of: Boise State basketball
Is there even a Taco Bell in Boise?
Sleep Train Arena (1988-2016)
Location: Sacramento, Calif.
Home of: Sacramento Kings
The Kings are moving to a new home called the Golden 1 Center, a vast improvement. It even fits in with the regal theme: Kings, the "Golden 1". Get it?
Jobing.com Arena (2006-14)
Location: Glendale, Ariz.
Home of: Phoenix Coyotes
If Jobing.com Arena was bad, the new name isn't better. This facility is now called Gila River Arena.
Talking Stick Resort Arena
Home of: Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury
Talking Stick Resort is an Arizona thing, so let's hope it stays that way and that name doesn't spread to other sports facilities.
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Home of: University of Louisville football
First, the KFC Yum! Center, now this? The University of Louisville got the brunt of the bad names.
Whataburger Field
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
Home of: Corpus Christi Hooks (Texas League baseball)
The burgers better be darn good to name a baseball stadium after them.NEXT
Bright House Networks Stadium
Location: Orlando
Home of: University of Central Florida football
Bright House is one of the better cable providers out there, but on a college campus? Can't UCF come up with a legacy name for its field?
InfoCision Stadium
Location: Akron, Ohio
Home of: University of Akron football
The full name of the Zips' football home is InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field. Basically just word vomit.
PSINet Stadium (1999-2002)
Location: Baltimore
Home of: Baltimore Ravens
This place is now called M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens got a name upgrade.
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