San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Oracle is name, but fans won’t necessarily use it
If you hate the new name of the Giants’ ballpark, if you’re fed up with the concept of every sports venue being Your Corporate Name Here Field, blame the Los Angeles Lakers and the late Jerry Buss.
Brief history lesson: In 1988, Buss, who owned the Lakers and the Forum, sold arena naming rights to Great Western Bank. The Forum became the Great Western Forum.
That wasn’t the first. In 1972, the Buffalo Bills sold their stadium’s naming rights to a company that makes a coffee creamer, and it became Rich Stadium. When the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento in ’85, they played in a temporary building, ARCO Arena.
But for some reason, the Lakers’ name sellout was the tipping point that kicked off the naming-rights craze.
Much ridicule was directed at Buss for selling his sports soul for corporate cash. The new name was a cold-blooded comedown from the Fabulous Forum, which is what the arena had been called. Jack Kent Cooke, who built the Forum, was a bombastic fellow who ordered Lakers announcer Chick Hearn to use “Fabulous” in every mention of the arena. It was corny, but real.
I’m not sure Great Western Bank got its money’s worth. I lived in Los Angeles, and nobody ever called that arena by its corporate name.
Something similar is likely to occur with the Giants. Their fans are finding it hard to keep up with the parade of corporate sponsors, going from Pacific Bell Park to SBC Park to AT&T Park to Oracle Park. Plus, “Oracle” still means “Arena” to most Bay Area fans. Call it namechange fatigue. It will become simply “the Giants’ ballpark.”
Or maybe because the ballpark is still as cozy and cute as any, it will be called Adoracle.
The Warriors owe a debt of gratitude to Buss and the Lakers. Great Western Bank was swallowed up by another financial institution, which eventually morphed into Chase Bank, which is helping build the Warriors’ arena in San Francisco. So Chase Center will be the great-great-grandson of the Great Western Forum. Cha-ching.
Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler