The Delta Center becomes the Melta Center

HMMPCover.gifNaming rights deals on stadiums and arenas are notoriously speculative ventures, and sometimes the naming itself becomes rather odd. Inasmuch as debtors in bankruptcy such as Delta Airlines don’t normally renew naming rights deals, a nuclear waste company has bought the naming rights for what was formerly known as the Utah Jazz’s Delta Center, prompting local wags to propose nicknames such as Glow Bowl, the Isotope, the ChernoBowl, the Tox Box, and the Melta Center.
Of course, the Times story can’t report on this development without reminding us of Houston’s naming rights fiasco:

Radioactivity is quite new to naming rights, unless you count the brief time before Minute Maid replaced Enron as the name of the Houston Astrosí ballpark.

By the way, this Forbes slideshow (related article here) reviews the ten largest naming rights deals, which is led by another Houston deal.

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