Will Williams Arena renaming follow multimillion-dollar '3M Arena at Mariucci' deal?

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Joe:

Mariucci Arena got a new name Monday. The Gophers will now call their men’s hockey shrine 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The University of Minnesota announced a 14-year, $11.2 million sponsorship deal with St. Paul-based 3M, which drew mostly positive reviews from the Gophers hockey community.

But questions immediately turned to Williams Arena. Is the renaming of the Gophers basketball home inevitable, too?

“Well, I’m hoping it’s inevitable,” said Lou Nanne, who spearheads fundraising for the university’s $160 million Athletes Village, which opens in January. “That’s what we’re working on. That’s very important to us and we want to do the same type of thing.”

Coyle said he personally has had no discussions with a corporation about the naming rights to Williams Arena. “It’s got to be the right fit,” he said.

Williams Arena opened in 1928 as the “Minnesota Field House.” It was remodeled in 1950 and renamed after Dr. Henry L. Williams, who coached Gophers football from 1900 to 1921.

Asked about the potential renaming of “the Barn,” Gophers men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino said: “I’m open for whatever Mark [Coyle] feels is best for our athletic department.”

http://www.startribune.com/mariucci...innesota-secures-11-2-million-deal/433607353/

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per Joe:

Mariucci Arena got a new name Monday. The Gophers will now call their men’s hockey shrine 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The University of Minnesota announced a 14-year, $11.2 million sponsorship deal with St. Paul-based 3M, which drew mostly positive reviews from the Gophers hockey community.

But questions immediately turned to Williams Arena. Is the renaming of the Gophers basketball home inevitable, too?

“Well, I’m hoping it’s inevitable,” said Lou Nanne, who spearheads fundraising for the university’s $160 million Athletes Village, which opens in January. “That’s what we’re working on. That’s very important to us and we want to do the same type of thing.”

Coyle said he personally has had no discussions with a corporation about the naming rights to Williams Arena. “It’s got to be the right fit,” he said.

Williams Arena opened in 1928 as the “Minnesota Field House.” It was remodeled in 1950 and renamed after Dr. Henry L. Williams, who coached Gophers football from 1900 to 1921.

Asked about the potential renaming of “the Barn,” Gophers men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino said: “I’m open for whatever Mark [Coyle] feels is best for our athletic department.”

http://www.startribune.com/mariucci...innesota-secures-11-2-million-deal/433607353/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I'm all for it, if you can add a million bucks a year to the budget why not, I think they need to get away from naming buildings after people, no one knows or cares who Williams was anymore and in 50 years the name Mariucci will be equally meaningless.
 

Pillsbury gets the naming rights and we can start calling it "Dough boy" Arena! [emoji496]
 

The 3M deal will feed all our athletes for the next 14 years...that is big. The next deal, The Pottery Barn at Williams Arena will pay for the hookers and cars so we can really compete with the SEC in football.
 



as a general rule of thumb, I think the naming rights issue is easier to accept on a newer building. The older the building, and the more tradition, the more grumbling is likely. TCF Bank stadium was a new building - so that has always been its name. for Mariucci, that name has been in use since 1985 - a little more tradition to change. And as noted, the former Field House has been Williams Arena since 1950 - before most of us were born.

I suspect it's inevitable that Williams will see a naming rights deal. I just hope it's a good fit. Just don't want to see one of these deals - like some of the pro stadiums - where they go through several name changes in a relatively short period of time.
 

I think it's less of a big deal for Williams. It will always be The Barn no matter what name they slap on it.
 







I still say rename Northrop Auditorium and Coffman Union. Those names are getting a bit stale, and the U could probably generate some decent coin on the deal.
 

jovs said:
I'm all for it, if you can add a million bucks a year to the budget why not, I think they need to get away from naming buildings after people, no one knows or cares who Williams was anymore and in 50 years the name Mariucci will be equally meaningless.
Click to expand...

+1 as long as you keep "Williams Arena" as part of the name.
 



I'd be ok with rebranding Williams Arena as long if the money is put to good use
 


As a marketer I would never spend my money on arena naming rights, but someone will and it would make a lot of sense to have it be an agribusiness company that can naturally tie-in to synergies with The Barn and Barnyard while reaching their core customers outstate.
 

Mac Irv chimes in:

As for men’s basketball players and the potential for change to Williams Arena, former Gopher Lawrence McKenzie, who played in the mid-to-late-2000s, said: “In my opinion, renaming it just takes away a lot of the history behind the building. It’s like once you rename it, it becomes something totally different. The players know it as Williams, and in my eyes that’s always what it will be regardless of the name if they decide to change it.”

http://m.startribune.com/who-cares-...mer-players-for-starters/434982113/?section=/

Go Gophers!!
 

WindyCityGopher said:
As a marketer I would never spend my money on arena naming rights, but someone will and it would make a lot of sense to have it be an agribusiness company that can naturally tie-in to synergies with The Barn and Barnyard while reaching their core customers outstate.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why companies do it. I can't imagine they get out of it what they spend for the naming rights.
 

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