OBSERVER: Frailty, thy name is stadium
Financial Times; Dec 19, 2002
Conseco's bankruptcy continues the Stadium Naming Curse.
The Indiana-based insurance and financial giant adds yet another company to the list of groups that have gone under after spending tens of millions of dollars to attach their name to a big-league sports stadium.
The Conseco Fieldhouse, home to the NBA's Indiana Pacers, opened two years ago to replace the stadium where the team had played since 1974.
Its descent into ignominy comes just weeks after the fall of the United Centre (NBA's Chicago Bulls), named after now-bankrupt United Airlines. The other victims include: Enron Field (baseball's Houston Astros); TWA Dome (NFL's St Louis Rams); Adelphia Coliseum (NFL's Tennessee Titans); MCI Centre (NBA's Washington Wizards); PSINet Stadium (NFL's Baltimore Ravens); and CMGI Field (NFL's New England Patriots).
Fortunately for the teams, the companies' performance has had little impact on their records: the Pacers are in first place this year, the Patriots won last year's Superbowl and the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field -- the oldest corporate stadium -- are destined never to win anything.