Bully!

While I'm a bit of a soccer (aka, football) fan, I don't pay too much attention to the rather unexciting version of it played here in the US by Major League Soccer (MLS). So I was a little agog at this news (via the NYTimes):

[T]he recent purchase of a Major League Soccer team by the energy drink company Red Bull has taken naming rights a step further. This month, the soccer team formerly known as the MetroStars converted to the New York Red Bulls.

It is a name change that some marketers hope will open a new front in the commercialization of professional sports. Red Bull, which is based in Austria, paid the Anschutz Entertainment Group more than $100 million this month for the rights to the MetroStars club, a share of a planned stadium and the stadium's naming rights.

This just seems like a logical extension of the prevailing sponsorship ideology of soccer in the rest of the world. Sure, you swear allegiance to a particular team (say, Chelsea). But when you don the latest replica strip (aka, shirt), the uninitiated will only see the giant logo emblazoned across your chest. For a long time, many thought I supported the Emirates team--I had to point out the smallish, round Chelea badge on my chest (which really didn't explain things much further...). It hasn't gotten much better with the latest sponsor, Samsung:



But at least soccer hasn't reached the eye-watering collage of corporatism that is Nascar.

[posted with ecto]