OT: U of ILL to Rename Assembly Hall

Submitted by Bronco648 on

LINK

I know,, who cares, but I thought it was interesting that they sold out to State Farm Insurance. As a policy holder, this bugs me a bit. Bloomington IL, corporate headquarters of State Farm, is about 52 miles northwest of Champaign. What I found even more interesting is that the renovations include adding A/C to the State Farm Center (aka Assembly Hall). I guess there will be no more confusion between U of I and IU, when it comes to basketball venues. Now, our "biggest rival" will have a nicer facility in which UM can play well and win a lot (hopefully). You may now return to DG's Tweets.

ShockFX

May 30th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^

You're a couple weeks late. Also, for $2M a year, I bet the exposure is greater than what they pay for commercials.

 

Side note, if you wanted your insurance company to use you money wisely, you'd belong to a insurance co-op, not a for profit. It's like banking at a credit union vs JPM Chase.

Bronco648

May 30th, 2013 at 1:54 PM ^

Couple of weeks late? Really? Sorry, that article was dated yesterday. Hmmm. I do not know of any insurnace co-ops, nor have I heard of them before you posted that. I will have to consult the Googles. Many thanks for enlightening me. =)

Picktown GoBlue

May 30th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^

State Farm is a mutual association, so if you're a policyholder, you're a part owner of those naming rights and all those TV ad decisions in a sense...  Been a long time since the darn association has paid out any dividends, though (hmmm, coincidence??)

JHendo

May 30th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^

This isn't technically OT.  But anyways, it sucks when (somewhat) iconic sports facilities give up their name/identity for a few bucks.  I continue to hold out hope that we will never ever go that route.

By the way, congrats on hitting 1000 pts.

WolverineHistorian

May 30th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^

I don't think this is very common, is it? Usually it's new stadiums and arenas that get the corporate names.

Like Louisville. Their football team plays at Papa John's Stadium and their basketball team now plays at KFC Yum! Center. I wonder where their baseball team plays. Taco Bell Field?

Yeoman

May 31st, 2013 at 12:14 AM ^

I guess Frito Lay blew their stadium-naming wad on the park at the Braves' spring training complex. It used to be the Cracker Jack Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the Walt Disney World Resort. Which I wish was a joke but isn't.

It's also sobering to learn that a rookie-league stadium has luxury boxes.

Hanes now has the rights. Why Victoria's Secret hasn't gotten into this game, I have no idea.

And why hasn't Ball Park Franks bought the naming rights to a ballpark?

superstringer

May 30th, 2013 at 6:21 PM ^

This GIF is now officially abused and overused.  This GIF should be reserved for J'Real-Commitment level, you know, maybe one step below Kate-Doing-The Dougie level or Muppets level.  But this GIF should be reserved for events way above the "Hey we now have a unique name for our basketball arena" level.

jmblue

May 30th, 2013 at 3:27 PM ^

I'm not a big fan of selling naming rights, especially for college arenas, but I did think it was annoying having two Assembly Halls in the Big Ten.

jmblue

May 31st, 2013 at 8:08 AM ^

I can forgive that because those are war memorials, and of course we have a memorial sculpture at Michigan Stadium ourselves.

"Assembly Hall," OTOH, is just a bland name.  It sounds like a provisional name to be replaced when the school finds an adequate person to name it after.

TheBlueAbides

May 31st, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^

If Illinois can claim anything it's success in basketball (most ncaa tourney wins without a national title) but honestly that was a good venue with the orange crush. To me it's always sad to see stadiums/arenas/bowl games get sold out. Shame on Illinois, and I will cry if I see Crisler center become the FedEx center or Michigan Stadium become Dominoes Stadium.