The Name Game: Colorado’s Stadium Naming Rights and the Wild World of Corporate Sponsors

“Ultimately, the naming of buildings is not a mechanism by which history is kept alive. It is a mechanism by which the rich and the powerful are honoured.”

David Olusoga

What’s in a Name? (Millions of Dollars, Actually)

If you’ve been keeping an eye on Colorado sports news, you might have noticed a trend: everything that stands still long enough is getting a corporate name slapped on it. The latest example? The University of Colorado’s indoor football practice facility in Boulder just inked a seven-year deal to become the Ford Practice Facility. Yes, even the practice field has a sponsor now. It’s all part of the modern sports naming rights game – where teams auction off the name of a stadium (or field, or arena, or training center) to the highest bidder. Why do they do it? In a word: money. Actually, let’s make that three words: money, exposure, and branding.

From the team’s perspective, these deals can bring in hefty revenue that helps pay for stadium upgrades, player facilities, or just keeping the lights on (literally) without raising ticket prices too much. The Denver Broncos, for instance, have famously used naming rights cash to maintain and improve Mile High Stadium – the public stadium district collects a chunk of that change for upkeep. A local marketing professor has noted that if there were no sponsor paying up, fans might end up paying more for tickets because that funding gap has to be filled somehow. In theory, a good naming rights deal is a win-win-win for the team, the sponsor, and the fans. As one industry expert put it, “A naming rights deal where the venue, sponsor and visitor all benefit is the only way to ensure a win-win-WIN!”. In practice, do fans really benefit? Let’s get back to that in a moment.

From the sponsor’s side, brand visibility is the big draw. Their name gets mentioned constantly in media coverage (“live from Empower Field at Mile High…”), plastered on TV broadcasts, and seen by tens of thousands of attendees at events. How many people had even heard of Empower prior to their taking over the stadium’s name? It’s a marketing bonanza – if done right. The Talisman Agency (a sports marketing firm) has noted that associating your name with a popular venue builds brand recognition and reputation by linking you to something people love. Plus, sponsors often get to do on-site promotions: signage, booths, special fan zones, you name it. The recent trend is to integrate the sponsor into the fan experience, not just on the sign. For example, when T-Mobile bought the naming rights to the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark, they didn’t just put up magenta logos – they created perks like a T-Mobile customers’ fast-entry line, in-park giveaways, and even a “T-Mobile ‘Pen” party area for fans. As T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere explained, “T-Mobile Park isn’t just some corporate-branded sponsorship to us… This is about supporting the community and our hometown [team] in building a World Series-caliber team.” In other words, the best deals try to deliver real improvements or fun extras that fans can feel – shorter lines, free swag, better amenities – not just a new name on the scoreboard. If they didn’t go that extra mile, you might not associate those warm fuzzies with the brand for very long.

Colorado’s Greatest Hits in Stadium Naming

Coors Field has kept its classic name since 1995, thanks to a naming rights deal that gave Coors Brewing long-term branding in exchange for helping fund the stadium. The iconic ballpark’s name is practically part of Denver culture at this point.

Here in Denver and across Colorado, we’ve seen some naming rights deals that aged like fine wine (or at least a cold beer), and others that… well, went flat. Like a warm, leftover beer. Let’s start with the success stories:

• Coors Field – Home of the Rockies since 1995, Coors Field is a rarity in that it’s still called Coors Field after 30 years. Coors Brewing paid $30 million one time as part of the stadium construction deal to get naming rights in perpetuity. That’s right: unlike modern deals that last maybe 20 years, Coors locked in their name basically forever (technically at least through 2047, per the latest lease). And talk about a bargain – sports business experts have pointed out that Coors Field remains an all-time steal in naming rights, given that nowadays a single decade of naming can cost as much or more. As much as the team needed the help building the stadium, the Rockies now lose out (in so many ways) on the revenue that naming changes can bring. For fans, “Coors Field” just fits. It’s local, it’s beer (hard to argue with beer at a ballgame), and it rolled off the tongue from day one. Imagine the uproar if anyone tried to change it now! Thankfully, due to that deal, we likely won’t see a “Crypto Casino Field”, a “Chipotle Park”. or something else taking over – Coors Field it was, and Coors Field it shall remain. At least as long as the Rockies remain. At this point, Coors Field is in its 30th year, with the brewery conglomerate paying a million a year (on average) for the name so far. What a steal this will be if the team is there another 30.
• Empower Field at Mile High – Broncos fans usually just say “Mile High”, but the full name is courtesy of Empower Retirement, a Denver-based financial company. In 2019, Empower signed a 21-year deal to put their name on Mile High. Sources said it’s worth around $6 million per year – money that goes into stadium improvements and operations. The Broncos insisted on keeping “at Mile High” in the name, respecting the tradition and altitude pride of Denver. Smart move, because fans here are very attached to that Mile High moniker (it links back to the old Mile High Stadium, plus it literally describes our 5,280-foot elevation). Empower understood the assignment: be a sponsor, but don’t erase the heritage. So far, so good – Empower Field has had a nice run hosting everything from NFL games to concerts, and Empower gets its name on TV without too much fan grumbling. The company being a local “hometown” business helped ease acceptance. After the revolving door of previous names (we’ll get to those), fans seem relieved to have a stable partner that isn’t likely to go belly-up. Knock on wood.
• Ball Arena – Formerly Pepsi Center, this is the home of the Nuggets and Avalanche. In 2020, Pepsi’s 21-year run as namesake ended, and Ball Corporation (an Arvada-based aerospace company that sold off it’s canning operations years back, and still leases THAT naming right out as well) took over. So the “Pepsi Center” became “Ball Arena,” prompting a re-labeling by clever fans from “The Can” to a few jokes probably best left to be told over a Coors. In truth, the name comes from Ball Corp, which not only paid for the rights but also partnered with the arena to improve sustainability (they’re providing recyclable aluminum cups for events to cut down plastic waste). The transition was relatively smooth as naming rights changes go. Pepsi is a beloved brand, but it’s not local; Ball brought a Colorado connection, a meaningful eco-friendly initiative, and frankly “Ball Arena” is easy to remember. Plus, the Avs and Nuggets promptly went and won championships in 2022 and 2023 while playing at Ball Arena – giving the new name a nice shiny moment in the spotlight. You can bet Ball Corp appreciated the visibility (and probably did not mind the endless puns about “having a ball” or “the ball pit” at the games).
• Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Up in Commerce City, the Colorado Rapids’ soccer stadium has been Dick’s Sporting Goods Park since it opened in 2007. It’s a mouthful, and yes, fans often simply call it “Dick’s” for short (keep it clean). But overly easy jokes aside, the partnership with the sporting goods retailer has been stable and supportive for Colorado’s MLS team. Having a big national brand invest in soccer here helped lend credibility back when the league was still growing. The name has become second nature to local soccer fans. Dick’s got in early (keep it clean) on a 20-year agreement; by the time it’s up, who knows, maybe we’ll renew with “Dick’s Park 2.0” or “Dick’s Part Deux” (keep it clean), or even find another sponsor. But this one goes in the “solid, no drama” category of naming deals.
• Canvas Stadium (CSU Rams) – It’s not just pro teams cashing in. Colorado State University in Fort Collins sold naming rights for its new football stadium in 2018 to Canvas Credit Union. The deal was big by college standards: $37.7 million over 15 years for the stadium name, plus an unrelated $20 million gift to name the field after legendary coach Sonny Lubick. All told, that brought CSU about $57 million toward their stadium project. Not bad for a Mountain West school! The result: the Rams play at “Canvas Stadium” (officially Sonny Lubick Field at Canvas Stadium). While some fans grumble that it’s not just “Lubick Field” or something traditional, that naming money helped build the place. So far Canvas Stadium hasn’t seen any national controversies or jokes; a credit union is pretty innocuous as sponsors go. It seems to have inspired the Credit Union up the road – Blue FCU up in Cheyenne has recently puchased the naming for the Avs minor league club, the Colorado Eagles, in Loveland.
• CU Boulder’s Sponsored Facilities – Interestingly, Amazingly, CU’s historic football venue Folsom Field has not been sold to a corporate sponsor – it retains the name of a long-ago university benefactor (and former coach) from the 1920s. But CU has gotten creative elsewhere. Their massive athletics complex built in 2015 was named the Champions Center, and in 2021 they tacked on UCHealth as a sponsor, renaming it the “UCHealth Champions Center” with a deal that included $3 million up front and $600,000 annually for 15 years. That partnership is pitched as a way to promote health and wellness programs for students and the community, but it’s also a way to monetize a building name that otherwise would just be generic. And of course, the impetus for this whole article – CU’s recent naming of their Indoor Practice Facility – now carries the Ford name thanks to the Mountain States Ford Stores network sponsorship. It’s a seven-year deal and the first time CU has ever sold naming rights to that building. They even tied in a cute synergy: the facility is a net-zero energy building with solar panels, and it will promote Ford’s electric vehicles as part of the partnership. (Picture a bunch of shiny new F-150 Lightning trucks parked out front as the Buffs practice inside.) CU’s Athletic Director Rick George cheered bringing “an iconic company” into the Buffs family and noted the “natural synergy” between the solar-powered practice field and Ford’s EV lineup. Corporate marketing speak? Sure. Smart? Absolutely. Who could blame CU for finding additional revenue streams? At least it’s not distracting from the games themselves, since no fan really says “I’m headed to the Ford Practice Facility” in casual conversation.

All of the examples above show that when done thoughtfully, naming rights can integrate pretty smoothly, and be beneficial for. Local or relevant sponsors tend to get more fan acceptance (a Colorado brewery on the ballpark, a Denver finance firm on Mile High, a sporting goods brand on a sports park). Throw in some community benefits or improvements, and fans might even appreciate the sponsor. At T-Mobile Park in Seattle, fans got real perks from the phone carrier’s investment – one of several sponsors nationally setting a high bar. We haven’t seen quite that level of fan-facing perk in Colorado deals yet (no free Coors beer dispensers at Coors Field yet, and probably wisely). But sponsors here often do contribute to community programs, charitable causes, or stadium upgrades as part of the deal. For instance, Empower Retirement’s deal directs a lot of funding to the stadium authority for improvements to keep Mile High state-of-the-art. And UCHealth’s partnership with CU includes initiatives for public health outreach. So there are positive ripple effects beyond just a name on a building, at least when things go right.

When Naming Rights Go Wrong (or Just Get Weird)

Of course, not every naming rights story is a triumphant tale. Some are more like cautionary tales – even here in Colorado. Let’s revisit Mile High Stadium’s naming saga:

The Broncos’ new stadium opened in 2001 as Invesco Field at Mile High after Invesco Funds ponied up $120 million for a 10-year deal. Purists grumbled that it wasn’t just “Mile High Stadium,” so as a compromise “…at Mile High” was kept in the name. That deal went fine, but Invesco ended up merging and by 2011, the naming rights were transferred to Sports Authority, the sporting goods retailer. Thus it became Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Great, until Sports Authority went bankrupt in 2016. Suddenly we had a stadium named for a company that literally didn’t exist anymore. Yet the big red Sports Authority signs stayed up on the building for nearly two years after the bankruptcy – and fans had no reason to feel fuzzy about a non-existent sponsor Legal hurdles delayed their removal, so on TV broadcasts the Broncos were still playing at “Sports Authority Field” long after every Sports Authority store had closed. Awkward.

When those signs finally came down in 2018, the Broncos didn’t want to go clear back to “Mile High Stadium” and frustrate the fan base again by pulling the rug out from under the name again. So, for a moment, Broncos fans were stuck with a generic temporary name: Broncos Stadium at Mile High. Essentially a placeholder until a new sponsor could be found. And that took a while – over two years. Why the delay? One theory: the team wasn’t very good in those years post-Peyton Manning, and “what company wants its brand to be associated with suck?” as one Denver columnist colorfully quipped. Another factor: the team wanted a long-term, deep-pocketed partner after the last few sponsors had made it a confusing mess. They reportedly were asking for $10-12 million a year for naming rights, aiming for a big fish that wouldn’t embarrass them by collapsing financially. For a while, none bit. During that stretch, a hilarious proposal came out of left field (or maybe out of the clouds): Native Roots, a Colorado marijuana dispensary chain, publicly offered to buy the naming rights in 2016. They even had a mock-up of “Native Roots Field at Mile High” ready to go. It happened to be announced on April 1st, so everyone thought it was an April Fool’s joke – but the dispensary owners insisted they were dead serious. They claimed they could afford the ~$6 million per year price tag and were willing to not put a marijuana leaf in the logo (offering a more family-friendly tree-and-roots image instead). Ultimately, the NFL and Broncos never seriously entertained that (imagine what the fans’ perks packages might have looked like there… rolling paper day?). Native Roots’ bid went up in smoke, and the Broncos eventually struck the deal with Empower Retirement in 2019, finally ending the “Stadium with No Name” era.

The Mile High naming saga illustrates a key risk: while you hope they never do, sponsors can fail or bail. When that happens, teams can be left in an awkward limbo. It’s not just Denver: plenty of stadiums have had naming-rights fiascos:

• The most infamous might be Houston’s baseball stadium. It opened as Enron Field in 2000 – yeah, that Enron, the energy trading company. Enron agreed to pay $100 million over 30 years. Then Enron imploded in one of the worst corporate scandals ever in 2001. The Astros had to distance themselves ASAP. They ended the deal and Enron’s name was stripped off in 2002 (after the team paid a reported $2.1 million to buy out the remainder). For a few months it was just “Astros Field” until a new sponsor was found. Ultimately Minute Maid (the orange juice brand, owned by Coca-Cola) took over and it became Minute Maid Park, which it remained for two decades. Still, Enron Field is a punchline in hindsight – a prime example of reputational risk. Not only did Enron not get their 30 years of brand glory, for a while the stadium’s very name became associated with fraud. Thank goodness they weren’t still the sponsors when the Astros faced their own cheating scandal. Yikes.
• More recently, Miami’s NBA arena made headlines as FTX Arena – FTX being a cryptocurrency exchange – for all of about one year. FTX signed a 19-year, $135 million deal in 2021. Then FTX spectacularly collapsed in 2022 (in an Enron-esque scandal of its own). The Heat and Miami-Dade County hurriedly ditched the name and had to scrub FTX off everything. For a few months it was just “the Arena” while they sought a new sponsor. By mid-2023, a new tech company paid to rebrand it (Kaseya Center), but the whole fiasco was a lesson: if you tie your venue to a volatile industry or company, you might be rebranding sooner than you’d like.
• Sometimes the name itself is the issue, not the company’s health. There have been some truly odd stadium names that drew fan ire or mockery. Chicago White Sox fans never warmed to “Guaranteed Rate Field” – especially since the logo of that mortgage company is a big red arrow pointing down (symbolic for a last-place team, some joked). In Phoenix, the Cardinals played for a while at “University of Phoenix Stadium” which was funny because University of Phoenix is an online college with no sports teams – basically a marketing ploy. The Arizona Coyotes’ old arena was “Jobing.com Arena” (a now-defunct job search site) which just looked weird on a building. And let’s not forget Louisville’s “KFC Yum! Center” – yes, it has an exclamation point (but no comma) in it. New Orleans has the “Smoothie King Center.” Not that Smoothie King doesn’t make delicious Smoothies, but… Really? These names sound like they were cooked up in a marketing fever dream. Fans either roll with it or give the venue a nickname. (Pelicans fans often just say “The Blender” for Smoothie King Center – which is actually all kinds of awesome.)

Closer to home, we’ve largely avoided the truly cringe-y names, but we came this close with the Native Roots idea (imagine opposing teams getting whiffs of the Mile High “air” – home field advantage in a whole new way!). And some Coloradans do find “Dick’s Sporting Goods Park” to be an unintentionally humorous name (it’s okay, we’re all middle-schoolers at heart sometimes). Thankfully, “Empower Field” and “Ball Arena” are pretty straightforward. Coors Field and Pepsi Center were downright beloved names; when Pepsi Center changed, many of us had to catch ourselves from still saying “Pepsi” out of habit. There are probably folks who will always call it Pepsi Center, just as some still say “Mile High Stadium” plain and simple, dropping the corporate tag entirely. That’s another reality: fans often ignore or abbreviate corporate names. We love our traditions. The sponsors crave brand mention, but fans will call the stadium whatever feels right to them. Win enough games, and they might even use your corporate name respectfully; but if not, good luck.

What’s In It for the Fans?

So, do these naming deals actually help fans, or just annoy us with unmemorable name changes? It depends. When the money is used for good, fans can benefit indirectly: better facilities, improved scoreboards, nicer seats, maybe a portion helps keep ticket prices a tad lower than they’d otherwise be. For example, going back to the T-Mobile deal, the Mariners’ lease in Seattle explicitly required team-funded ballpark improvements, and the T-Mobile naming partnership helps meet those obligations so the “fans will have a first-class experience for decades to come”. In Denver, as previously mentioned, the Broncos have used naming rights funds for stadium upgrades like new video boards and concourse renovations over the years. We as fans enjoy those enhancements (who doesn’t love a bigger replay screen and shorter beer and bathroom lines?).

The more direct fan benefits are rarer but very welcome. T-Mobile’s deal up in Seattle is a gold standard: they gave fans early gate entry on game days via the “T-Mobile ‘Pen” area with live DJs and happy hour vibes, they do “T-Mobile Tuesdays” with seat upgrades and freebies for their customers, and even have magenta lighting and decor to add some fun atmosphere. They basically said, if we’re going to rename your stadium, we’ll also make your experience more fun. That’s how you win over the public. Sponsors take note!

Have we seen anything like that in Colorado? On a smaller scale, maybe. When Ball took over the arena, they pushed a the very positive sustainability angle – switching to aluminum cups means your beer stays colder and you feel a bit better about recycling. That’s something, and you see people taking the cups home as souvenirs. I haven’t yet seen Empower handing out 401(k) brochures to everyone in the stands or anything (thank goodness), but they do sponsor community events and Broncos charitable initiatives. At CU, the UCHealth tie-in at Champions Center promises programs on student wellness – not exactly game-day hype, but a positive community impact. Perhaps Ford’s new partnership with CU athletics will involve some cool fan engagement (Ford-sponsored tailgate events? Free Ford truck poster giveaways? We’ll see). Maybe Canvas can give out checking accounts? Give financial education?

In many cases, the biggest “fan benefit” is simply that your team has more resources – hopefully leading to better performance on the field or at least maintaining a great venue. If corporate dollars keep our beloved arenas from falling into disrepair, that’s a win. And if a little sponsor cash prevents a hike in your season ticket invoice, who wouldn’t be for it? Without that sponsor money, they’d have to charge more elsewhere.

Still, there’s the emotional side. Fans form attachments to stadium names. They’re part of our memories. We still get misty-eyed about the old Mile High Stadium or McNichols Arena. A corporate name can feel imposed, and if the company has a so-so reputation, it can even cast a weird shadow (“ugh, our stadium is named after an insurance company…boring,” or worse, “our arena is named after a scandal-ridden crypto firm…embarrassing”). When the sponsor aligns with local values or the spirit of the team, it’s much smoother. Coloradans largely embraced Coors Field because Coors = Colorado, and beer + baseball = a good time. Pepsi Center was fine – Pepsi’s just a big brand, nothing offensive. Ball Arena got nods of approval because Ball Corp has local roots and a socially conscious pitch. Empower Field raised a few eyebrows if only for many not knowing who they were, but Empower was already a Broncos partner and local employer, so it landed alright.

For fans, ultimately the game is what matters, not the name on the building. If the Broncos win the Super Bowl, they could be playing at Pet Rock Stadium for all we care. And if the team is losing… well, then the name becomes an easy punchline (“Looks like Enron Field out there – total collapse!” etc.). So in a way, fans will make the naming rights worthwhile or not by how they talk about it, and often come up with clever twists like The Can or The Blender. Sponsors know this, which is why they often engage with fans via promotions and try to be good citizens. They want us to think fondly of their brand when we think of our stadium. If they contribute to great memories, we will. If they fumble it, we’ll happily ignore them.

But there is decidedly a far end of this picture. The naming rights trend isn’t slowing down – in fact, it’s accelerating. As we started out with, CU just named their practice facility. When are we naming our bathrooms? Will Waste Management want in on that? Teams will name just about any facility or space if the price is right. So far we have stadiums, arenas, practice facilities, training centers, even individual gates and club levels sponsored. (Yes, some stadiums sell naming rights to entrances or sections – e.g., “ABC Company East Gate” – so you know exactly who paid for that new turnstile you just walked through.) It begs the question: how far could this go?

• In a few years, maybe every inch of a stadium will have a sponsor. We’ll park in the Amazon Parking Lot, enter through the Google Gate, walk on a concourse named for Frontier Airlines, and sit in the Chipotle Seats (burrito included with ticket?). The halftime show will be brought to you by Timex, and the game’s official coin toss sponsor will be a crypto exchange – with a special QR code on the coin for 50% off your next Bitcoin purchase (heads or tails, you win!).
• The University of Colorado could one-up itself by selling naming rights to the locker rooms or even the team itself. Could we see a deal where the Buffs defense is known as the “IBM Cloud Defense” or the offense is the “Toyota Hybrid Offense”? Too bad the “hybrid” sponsorship wasn’t available when Travis Hunter was still in the building! Synergy, baby! Ralphie the buffalo might start wearing a small sponsorship patch on her fur (hopefully not Blackbelly Market or some other spot serving bison).
• Corporate team names?! It sounds sacrilegious, but we basically have it in soccer abroad (Red Bull owns teams literally called Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull Leipzig). Could we ever see the Denver Broncos become the Denver Walmarts? (Probably not… unless Walmart offers to pay every player’s salary cap, then hmm.) How about the Colorado Avalanche rebranding as the Colorado Amazon Drones in exchange for a billion-dollar deal and free 2-day shipping for all season ticket holders? Tempting… but no, some lines we won’t cross. (Right, team owners? Please?)
• Local Colorado staples could jump in. I’m still waiting for Casa Bonita (the famed Denver Mexican restaurant recently revived by the South Park creators) to sponsor something. Casa Bonita Center ice? Casa Bonita’s name on a hockey arena would allow for cliff-diving intermissions and all-you-can-eat sopapillas when the home team scores 10 goals. Fans would sign up for that in a heartbeat. Or perhaps Celestial Seasonings could sponsor Folsom Field’s student section – plus free Sleepytime tea to the opposing team at halftime?
• If the marijuana sponsorship ban ever loosens, Colorado teams might actually consider those offers. We could end up with Mile High Stadium living up to its name in a whole new way. The play-by-play could get interesting: “There’s a haze over the field tonight, and it’s not just the fog – welcome to the 4th quarter at Mile High!”
• And let’s not forget the possibility of naming rights fails leading to rapid-fire changes. If Crypto.com Arena (the new name for LA’s Staples Center) doesn’t age well, we might see that iconic venue renamed multiple times in a decade. Fans in Denver saw Mile High go through three names in ~15 years. What if Ball Corporation decides to pivot and sell off divisions – would Ball Arena become something else? (A few years ago nobody predicted “Ball Arena” was coming, so never say never.)

As fans, we’ll joke about the silly names, gripe when a beloved name is replaced, maybe cringe if a sketchy sponsor comes along. But we’ll also enjoy the new scoreboards those sponsors pay for, the improved facilities, and sometimes even the freebies. We’ve seen good deals and bad deals, and we’ve seen the potential for downright bizarre deals (stoner stadium, anyone?). Through it all, Colorado sports fans remain passionate and maybe a bit protective – the Mile High City doesn’t want to lose its identity to pure corporate-ness. Thankfully, our teams seem to get that, keeping bits of heritage in names and choosing partners that align with local culture when possible.

So the next time you walk into a stadium and see a giant corporate logo, you can nod knowing they paid for this, maybe grab a branded promo item if they’re handing them out, and then go find your seat and focus on the action. The game is still the game, no matter what the building is called. A home run at Coors Field is just as sweet if someday it’s “Insert-Name-Here Field”. A Broncos touchdown feels just as electrifying at Mile High, Empower or otherwise. And if the Buffs win a championship, they could be practicing in the Ford Motor Company Presents Mountain States Family of Dealerships Indoor Facility (phew!) and nobody will care as long as there’s a trophy. Take advantage of whatever perks of that sponsor you can, and then focus in on the part you’re truly there for in the first place. If the stadium name is 35 words long, you don’t have to say it out loud, anyway.