Dodgers Rumors: Owners Shopping the Naming Rights to Stadium Field

There were reports late last week that the Dodgers were shopping the naming rights to the field inside Dodger Stadium. While this report was not denied by Dodgers’ President Stan Kasten, the news may have been misinterpreted by Dodger fans.

To clarify, Stan Kasten was clear in stating that the team was not selling the name of the stadium. What this means is that the Dodgers would refer to their home park as “(Company Name) Field at Dodger Stadium.” So as you can see, it’s not that big of a deal that the owners are shopping the naming rights to the field because the Dodgers will still be playing at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers currently have the largest payroll in the majors ($250 million), and if they find a buyer, it would bring in an additional $12 million per season. I can see why the owners are looking for creative ways to generate more revenue, but after signing a $8.8 billion deal, I wonder why the owners feel a need to toy with the nostalgia of Dodger Stadium.

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Dodger Stadium is the third oldest park in the league and has sat along Chavez Ravine for over five decades. The news of selling the naming rights to the field brought some backlash from fans throughout Los Angeles. Many fans are concerned that this could open the door to eventually leading to a corporate named stadium, but also many were confused as to what this actually meant.

After Kasten’s comments, I think you’ll all agree that finding a buyer to name the field isn’t that big of a deal because fans will always continue to say they are going to Dodger Stadium.

While most of LA was not too pleased with the idea, others have embraced the idea of selling the name of the field so long as it remains in line with Dodger history. Calling the field “Vin Scully Field” or “Jackie Robinson Field” would add another Dodger history element to a stadium that already has so much history.

I mentioned in an article earlier this year that I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dodgers ownership elected to honor Vin Scully once more by tributing the name of the stadium to the legendary broadcaster. But that just doesn’t seem to be in the cards, yet.

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The fact that the owners are shopping the name rights to the field was blown out of proportion by the fans. This just goes to show that the fans are very vocal about the Dodgers and deserve to be heard in big decisions like this that involve the city. Although I think the fans who were upset by this were overreacting, I do think the owners should be spending their time fixing a bigger issue that has over 70 % of Los Angeles unable to watch Dodger baseball in their homes.