April 25, 2005
Again With That Stadium Name...
As readers of DCist may well know, the on-going saga as what to name RFK Stadium continues, even though city officials promised on the day of the Nationals home opener that the stadium would officially be christened "Armed Forces Field at RFK Stadium." Being that the deal has not yet materialized, another name may now be in the running.
In an opinion piece posted on Fox News' website yesterday, CATO Institute policy analyst, blogger, and Fox News contributor Radley Balko proposed that both RFK and the new stadium being proposed for the Indianapolis Colts be named "Taxpayers' Field." He asks:
Just this once, why not recognize and show some appreciation for what will be each stadium's biggest contributor?Even better, he notes, the name would serve as a middle finger to the lucrative-yet-demanding sports industry, which Washingtonians became all too familiar with during the heated debate over the financing plans for the Nationals new home:
A "Taxpayers' Stadium" would amount to a mild act of populist civil disobedience -- not exactly the Boston Tea Party, but a very American, if understated, insurrection against the sports barons and the politicians who serve them.While the proposal is his own, Balko's employer, the libertarian CATO Insitute, has similarly weighed in against the public funding of stadiums.
This proposal follows in the footsteps of the "Taxation Without Representation Field at RFK Stadium," yet may not fare any better in convincing city officials and the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission that the District should make such public light of its lack of voting rights.
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Unfortunately, the taxpayers are going to be paying for the upkeep of the stadium naming rights or no. But a sponsor can drop some added cash that this city can then piss away.
I haven't been able to find any news on the what the hell is going on with the name. I had some interest in Fenty and Graham in doing a temporary name until they settled on a real sponsor. I'll follow up again.