How much $$$ does it take to sell a name?


$25 million was the price paid by Rogers Communications (the owners of the Toronto Blue Jays) to buy the "Skydome"... now, I'm not really a big sportsfan and this would normally go completely unnoticed to me, but the fact that it involved taking a well known part of the Toronto skyline and RENAMING it definitely did not go unnoticed. It is interesting to me the moves that key players make in the business world... this was not just the acquisition of a company/sports stadium/what-have-you that was struggling... this was some smart advertising, as people not only refer to the new place as the "Rogers Centre" (this still sounds weird to me) but also engage in conversation about the name change. When people are talking about your brand... the brand itself stays fresh and in centre-stage. Kinda.

I recently purchased the new electronic (& Canadian!) Monopoly edition (it uses credit cards instead of paper money! VERY fun if you're a [geek!] board game lover like myself) and, sure enough, Rogers Centre is one of the spots you can purchase (for a few million dollars, of course).... which makes me think: what next? The CN Tower? How much money will it take to change ITS name??! I thought it'd never happen, but with Scotiabank Theatres and the like, who knows!

1 comment:

Kenny Li said...

You might not have noticed, but the CN Tower is owned by CN, Canadian National, the largest freight railroad company in Canada.