Well, it turns out one of the ballparks that I didn’t think they’d change the name for are going to be changing their name. Since 1994, the Indians park has been called Jacobs Field after former team owner Richard Jacobs.
Anyway, starting in 2008 it will be “Progressive Field”. Oh well. Another name that will get ignored to the tune of $3.6 million dollars a year. Don’t know any fan that gets excited about a corporate name. It’ll still be “Jacobs Field”. Guess I need to update my ballparks article with this info.
What’s interesting to me is that as I write this at 9:30AM on Friday the 11th, it’s not on the Indians site or mlb.com at all. Found out via an AP wire story on Yahoo.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jacobs Field will be renamed Progressive Field under terms of an agreement between the Cleveland Indians and the auto insurance company.
The downtown ballpark, known as Jacobs Field since it opened in 1994, will be rebranded for the 2008 season, the Indians said Friday.
The change was first reported by The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer on its Web site Thursday night.
Indians president Paul Dolan scheduled a news conference for Friday morning to release details about the name change.
Progressive Corp., based in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Village, is the nation’s third biggest auto insurer, ranking behind State Farm and Allstate.
Former team owner Richard E. Jacobs had held the ballpark’s naming rights, but his contract expired at the end of the 2006 season, and the club hired sports marketing firm IMG to find a new naming rights partner.