PETCO Pavilion?
Why not?
It pains me to say this.
Well, not really.
But selling a corporate sponsor the naming rights to Pauley
Pavilion to fund some much-needed renovations really wouldn’t
be the worst thing in the world.
UCLA athletic department officials are in the preliminary stages
of looking into refurbishing the aging venue, and let’s face
it ““ it needs it. Pauley, the place many of you UCLA sports
fans hold dear to your hearts, needs an upgrade.
It’s just old.
The thing is that UCLA isn’t exactly raking in millions of
dollars lately (how many times have you heard the phrase
“budget cuts”?), so the athletic department probably
needs some money to fund the project.
Renovating stuff nowadays costs a lot. Or so I hear.
And because so many donors have probably wasted their money
buying those expensive floor seats the past few years, I figure a
big chunk of the money may have to come from corporate
sponsors.
So while changing Pauley’s name probably won’t
happen for a long time, it’s not a bad idea to start
speculating.
Well, maybe it is a bad idea. What if it became Viagra Pavilion,
PETCO Pavilion, Enron Pavilion, Martha Stewart Pavilion or the L.A.
Coliseum? Then, it would be bad.
Maybe they can do what the Rose Bowl tried to do. Remember the
Rose Bowl presented by AT&T, then presented by Cingular, then
presented by Playstation and now presented by the NFL and USC?
So Bruins would attend events at Monster.com Pavilion. Is that
so bad?
The way I see it, if selling the naming rights to Pauley brings
in revenue and helps the team win, then bring it on.
At Cal, a donor got his name attached to one of the
bathrooms.
Come to think of it, selling the naming rights to each
individual bathroom stall is ingenious.
Imagine relieving yourself and staring at a sign that says
“The Jerry’s Famous Deli Urinal.”
Or maybe they can get the UCLA Yell Crew to sell
advertising.
P-E-P-S-I, “It won’t rot your teeth as much as
Coke!”
NBA teams put the URLs of their team Web sites on top of the
baskets, so you can see them when the camera goes to an aerial
view.
Why not advertise other Web sites there? You could even sell
personal ads.
Ever seen those indoor blimps at some basketball games? UCLA can
get a bunch of those, sell advertising space, and pass them out
like beach balls at games.
It entertains the fans at Dodger Stadium enough.
Then again, Dodger fans aren’t exactly the most attentive
fans in the world.
Even worse, why not put a small wall behind John Wooden and sell
that space to advertisers? What company wouldn’t want to be
indirectly sponsored by the greatest coach of all time?
(Yes, that may have been kind of cruel. But before you take me
seriously and fire off that unintelligible hate mail, I was
kidding. Sort of.)
And since baseball tried to use Spiderman bases, what can UCLA
do? Maybe a logo or two behind the see-through backboard? Or
instead of the classic UCLA spelled out on center court, why not a
Spaulding ad or something?
While we’re at it, why not just place a “Your ad
here” sign on top of Pauley Pavilion? When television
networks feel the stupid urge to place outdoor blimps at indoor
sporting events, that could pay off.
Would you rather have an advertisement-filled Pauley Pavilion
with a Final Four team or a tradition-filled Pauley with a bad
team, like lately?
I say, bring on Xerox Pavilion.
This week’s column is sponsored by the “Save the
Montreal Expos Foundation.” E-mail Quiñonez at
gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.