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So we knew it was coming, but now it's finally a reality. The MCI Center is no more -- say hello to the Verizon Center.
Our friends at Gallery Place Living stopped by yesterday to see that the change has now been made official, with the signage on the arena finally having been changed to reflect its new corporate sponsor. Of course, the Chinese lettering doesn't seem to have changed as of yet, so bilingual District residents may be somewhat confused.
We're curious how long it will take for the name change to stick. After all, there are still people out there that faithfully refer to Reagan Airport as National or DCA, be the decision political or practical. Will the MCI Center ever really become the Verizon Center in District-speak, or should we expect a few years of awkward ads listing the venue as "Verizon Center (formerly MCI Center)"?
Let's hope this is the last of the corporate takeovers.
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The situation with the airport name is different even if you ignore politics. The full name is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, so "National" remains a possible short form as well as "Reagan", and "DCA" is still the airport code, so I don't see why people who call it that would have changed.
Clinging to "MCI Center" would be more like calling CVS "Peoples" -- except that "MCI" isn't any less inhuman and corporatized a name than "Verizon".
The name change for DCA was soooo off base. Afterall, Washington was a President, wasn't he? Or did the congress that foisted the new name on us forget that?
Everyone will probably just call it the V Center.
I'm not so concerned about people sticking with the new name so much as convinced it will change in a year or two after the next mega-merger. The SF Giant's ballpark is now on its third name since 2000 thanks to a string of mergers. PacBell Park to SBC Park to AT&T Park.
This isn't a corporate takeover; it's a corporate transfer. I feel no nostalgia for the "MCI Center" moniker; it was just a means to get us to say the name of an entity that wants us to buy something, same as "Verizon Center."
As evidence undercutting my own viewpoint, I will note that "Verizon" is a really stupid-sounding corporate name, the worst of them all, in my opinion (including "Accenture" and "BearingPoint"). Saying "MCI Center" made me feel slightly less brain-damaged than saying "Verizon Center" does.
BTW, the Wizards (nee Bullets) have a 1.000 winning percentage at the Verizon Center, something that cannot be said of the MCI Center.
It's a takeover. Verizon completed its acquisition of MCI in January, hence it gets to name to arena. But I agree, it's just an attempt to get us to buys crap.
That cheezy sign was up days ago. Is that permanent? It looks like it was just slapped up there following a corporate merger.
Verizon is definitely one of the worst new names. I'd much prefer it to be the Bell Atlantic Center. But ever since phone and cable started to duke it out, phone companies have an incentive to drop names that are too tied to the old phone services (although SBC did recently go against that trend by dropping a mutated baby bell name for mama bell's name).
Honestly I think the sponsorship is unnecessary. Ask anyone in town what the best wireless service is and 9 out of 10 are going to say Verizon.
I just wish it were a local company (which at least MCI was). Chevy Chase Center maybe? Shell-Company-That-Succesfully-Sued-RIM-For-Billions-Over-The -Blackberry-Patent Center?
Chevy Chase Bank? didnt they get hauled into court for not serving that part of town when it was the slums?
Good point, but what other home-grown company can afford it? Verizon's a New York company.
As a graphic designer, I must say that MCI's logo, colors and corporate identity package are/were much, much more attractive than Verizon's half-assed, generic logo. And despite the negative connotations that may be associated with Worldcom, at least the MCI name was one with some heritage. I mean, WTF is a "verizon"???
...any rate, it's still the "phone booth."
um reid, bell atlantic was here too and forever
The Chinese characters aren't going to change, since they just say "ti yu zhong xin," athletics center.
I understand that Bell Atlantic carries on in Verizon, but Bell Atlantic was never located in NYC. Plus, most of Bell Atlantic was from the old C&P telephone company. So I was making the point that Bell Atlantic at least had the ring (ha ha) of a local company, Verizon has all the charm of a NYC conglomerate.
What other significant companies are arguably regional? AOL? boring. USAToday? stoopid.
Maybe the Navy can sponsor the Nats ballpark. That would be appropriate for its location. Rather than Camden Yards, our Nats would play at the Navy Yards.
Damn that's an awesome idea.
A number of Caps fans have been calling the building on 7th street the "Phone Booth" for years. Since both MCI and Verizon are in the telephone business, the nickname can still apply.