11/21/24
November 26, 2004
Mizzou bows out of the Paige Arena: The University has chosen to rename its new basketball facility Mizzou Arena after its former namesake, Paige Laurie (of the stinking rich Wal-Mart family), was outed for allegedly paying $20Gs to have her roommate do all her homework at USC for her. This despite the fact the Lauries forked over $25M to help build the place. Two-part post: 1) Is it right for colleges or pro teams to hand over the naming rights for an arena to the highest bidder? and 2) What's the most idiotically named sports facility in the world?
Ditto. I went to three universities and one junior college, and they named everything they could after donors. Here in Jacksonville, the local university has Brest Hall, Brest Museum, and the Brest Dance Pavilion. I once saw a photo exhibit at the Brest with a dozen nude photos one of the professors had taken of his wife, a former student. Good times.
posted by rcade at 08:43 AM on November 29, 2004
Universities have given naming rights over many different aspects to donors for as long as I've been alive, why should this be different? Pro sports are about the money, so again, why not naming right?