Update: New Red Wings arena to be called Little Caesars Arena

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

In a shocker, the new Red Wings arena will be called Little Caesars Arena. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Now it needs a nickname - Pizzarena? You heard it here first. TM/Copyright/Patent Ypsituckyboy 2016.

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Everyone Murders

April 28th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^

After all that Mike Ilitch has done for Detroit sports and Detroit in general, I'll allow it.*  I don't like the name ("Joe Louis Arena" was great because it was so non-corporate), but it seems if any owner in any sport has the right to take the corporate naming rights, Ilitch does.

Plus, given the quality of Little Caesar's Pizza, many fans will be "brown bombers" by the time they return home.  So it maintains the tradition - in a way.

*Especially since I have no say in the situation to begin with. 

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Bryan

April 28th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^

would make more sense as the Illitch's are not simply transfering money from one pocket to the next, but I do like "The Oven" as a nickname. 

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Pepto Bismol

April 28th, 2016 at 2:19 PM ^

Of course I'd rather have a non-corporate name along the lines of Joe Louis, but this is 2016. 

Little Caesars, besides being the owner's biz, also sponsors elite AAA youth hockey program.  If you've ever spent any time in a local hockey rink, seeing the Orange and Baby Blue of Caesars means you stop in your tracks and watch some of the best youth players in the country. 

If the arena has to sell out to a corporate sponsor, I'd rather it be Caesars - being synonymous with hockey in this area - than some sterile, non-local entity like Comerica Bank.

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BornInA2

April 28th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^

Yeah, I think sporting venues should be named in honor of people or places, not corporations.

But since we now live in a country where corporations have been imbued with the same, if not more, rights as people, then I guess the current trend makes sense.

Out here CenturyLink Field, home of the Seahawks, gets call "The Clink", much to the annoyance of CenturyLink, so sometimes it doesn't quite work out the way they hope...

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charblue.

April 28th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^

it Little Caesar's Red Wings Arena, incorporating business with Detroit's greatest winter passion, hockey. But I agree that Little Caesar's is synonymous with both youth hockey and baseball for that matter in Michigan. I mean is the COPA or Comerica Park a better name. It used to be Tiger Stadium. That worked pretty well for a long time. Now with naming rights, stadium names turnover that I can't even recall where some pro teams in the NFL and MLB actually play. And I used to know them all by heart when they were named after owners or prominent folks or simply the locale of the building.

Mr. Illitich could have called it Fox Palace or the Red Wibgs Lair and I'd be cool with it.

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lilpenny1316

April 28th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^

I loved them for the toasted bread and their selection of beef subs.  They had two problems IMO.

1. Too expensive.  I loved the Prime Rib sub or the Peppercorn Beef Sub, but it's hard to compete with subway when that's double the price of a Subway steak sub.

2. They got too cute with their sizes.  Instead of 6" or footlong, they went wth small, medium and large.  They acted like Subway or even Tubby's had a trademark on the measurement system.

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LSAClassOf2000

April 28th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^

As there is already a Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, this would then make Detroit's version the Quicken Loans Arena West Annex or something along those lines, and in keeping with something Darker Blue mentioned, the concession for People Who Like To Take Big Shits will be on the west side of the lower mezzanine between the upper and lower bowls. That's a guess, of course.

In all seriousness though, this is not the name I would have liked, but as I am not the one who is writing checks to build the place, I will find a way to process it somehow. I still say resurrecting "Olympia" might have been cool. 

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Space Coyote

April 28th, 2016 at 11:48 AM ^

I get it, it's a money making venture. But I do wish they would also give it a standard name. "Commerica" will never have the staying power of "Tiger Stadium" (which was formerly Navin Field and then Briggs Stadium until the 60s, but I digress). Little Caesars Arena will never have the staying power of The Joe Lewis Arena. I like naming these things after things that represent the city and area more than just a single business. 

Detroit is lucky enough to have some people/things to aspire to. From the Red Wings, you have Gordie Howe (though generally, naming something after someone not dead is always a huge risk). Heck, call it Red Wings Arena, "Motown" Arena, "Hockeytown" Arena, etc. Even "Illitch" Stadium would bring some lasting power, though be a little narcissistic in this case.

I'd just prefer it also has a name attached to it with staying power. "Michigan Stadium", "Cristler Center", "Yost Arena", "Spartan Stadium", "Breslin Center", "Ohio Stadium", "Rose Bowl", you could advertise on those stadiums all you want, but they have something that unifies them for the people in the area, stays with them, and is stronger than just a brand. WIsh they would at least add that aspect to it as well, because I think that makes them, ultimately, mean a little more to the area than just being about business.

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