Could you guys ever see John Henry selling the naming rights to Fenway Park? “Dunkin Donuts Field at Fenway Park” I bet he’s considered it.
November 18, 2024
Could you guys ever see John Henry selling the naming rights to Fenway Park? “Dunkin Donuts Field at Fenway Park” I bet he’s considered it.
31 comments
I think there would be riots in the streets of Boston if the idea of renaming Fenway were even proposed
This is the one line John Henry couldn’t cross. Fenway is THE oldest and maybe the most iconic ballpark in the sport. He’d be chased out of Boston forever if he did
I think this is the one thing ownership would never consider doing. The ownership group is called Fenway Sports Group
I think he honestly stands to gain more from the branding of Fenway Park then he does from a sponsorship deal. It’s legitimately an iconic name, even Americans that don’t know the first thing about baseball have heard of Fenway Park. When you have a brand that’s that iconic, it’s a legitimately bad business decision to get rid of it.
The whole point of naming rights is the advertising from people using it. Minute Maid park, or whatever it’s called, has no actual name other than whatever corporate name is associated with it.
No one is going to call Fenway anything other than Fenway. It’s the same with Yankee stadium, Lambeau field, etc.
He literally did the opposite of what you are describing – he turned Fenway into a brand itself when he made FSG.
That ball park has always been that way since it’s inception. It started as ENRON Field
No because Fenway Park , as a name, will make more than any other sponsor
John Henry is the old reason Fenway is still standing
They don’t need to. They already have “official partners”. The fan backlash would make any gains moot and sour already fragile relations between ownership and fans.
Fenway is a national historic landmark, added on 2012 for the 100 year anniversary. Because of that I would assume they won’t change the name
So long as his ownership group is branded “Fenway Sports Group” there is zero chance that happens. Not to mention they literally trademarked “The Fenway Experience” last year.
The refusal to sell the name out (or move to a new stadium, etc) is the one (1) thing that Henry still deserves credit for.
I thought they already did. Isn’t it now called “The Fenway Park Experience”!
That’s never ever going to to happen I mean we had a plan for a modern Fenway Park with more seats, better parking etc etc and it was vetoed by the public.
I will put nothing past him. I could see it being changed to something like Fidelity Field at Fenway Park if FSG is greedy enough but I hope it never happens.
I would choose that over the uniform ads.
As long as the check clears, I put nothing past Mr. Henry.
I am one of those old guys that absolutely hates that most of the modern sports arenas are named after who the corporate people are.i like tradition. Even if you demolish an old stadium, and build a brand new one, you should call it the same thing to keep a legacy and tradition. When they tore down the old Boston Garden, and built the Fleet Center, i never called it that. I still called it the Garden. Same thing now. I will never say the TD part-just the Garden. I am old and stuck in my ways and would be pissed off if they ever changed the name of Fenway to anything else!
Renaming Fenway would cause way more issues than it would be worth financially for him. The park and name alone make them so much money annually.
What I could see is the renaming of things like entrances. Dunkins Gate, Sam Adams Entrance, things like that. Would get external advertising going, make them money and 95% of fans wouldn’t care.
I could see them getting a sponsor but keeping Fenway in the name, sort of like the TD Garden did. Then everyone can still call it Fenway.
ETA: I guess the “Caesar’s Superdome” is probably the best example of that now
Naming rights are such easy money and franchises only avoid doing it when the park is sort of an icon unto itself like Fenway or Madison Square Garden.
The name Fenway itself was partly commercially motivated, since then-owner Taylor chose the name in part because he owned the Fenway Realty Company
Not sure why the name change of a stadium that already had a corporate name is triggering this question. These aren’t similar situations.
He literally did the exact opposite of this. He monetized/branded the word Fenway by creating FSG lol. You could also argue the Henry buying the team is a big reason Fenway is still standing. A lot of rumors at that time about different ownership coming in and destroying the ballpark to build somewhere else. Henry pretty much saved Fenway (the whole neighborhood) and developed it into what it is today.
Dunkin’ Park is already a thing in Hartford CT, home of the minor league team the Yard Goats.
Nothing is off limits. Even Arrowhead stadium changed their name. It’s now GEHA Field at Arrowhead or something like that. Considering ownership has sold literal bricks and dirt, I wouldn’t put it past them to sell the name too.
Fenway is the brand now.
Renaming Fenway is contrary to John Henry’s interests. He and his group have worked hard to build a Fenway brand (*Fenway* Sports Group), which would indicate that he has much more to gain financially from the symbolism of Fenway than he does from a renaming.
I hope he knows that all of Boston would lose their shit if they sold out to that degree.
It helps that it’s a national landmark and there may be protections in there about naming
Sea dogs just did something similar
Everything shouldn’t be about money. But go ahead, it’s still going to be Minute Maid just like it’s still Safeco and AT&T.
31 comments
I think there would be riots in the streets of Boston if the idea of renaming Fenway were even proposed
This is the one line John Henry couldn’t cross. Fenway is THE oldest and maybe the most iconic ballpark in the sport. He’d be chased out of Boston forever if he did
I think this is the one thing ownership would never consider doing. The ownership group is called Fenway Sports Group
I think he honestly stands to gain more from the branding of Fenway Park then he does from a sponsorship deal. It’s legitimately an iconic name, even Americans that don’t know the first thing about baseball have heard of Fenway Park. When you have a brand that’s that iconic, it’s a legitimately bad business decision to get rid of it.
The whole point of naming rights is the advertising from people using it. Minute Maid park, or whatever it’s called, has no actual name other than whatever corporate name is associated with it.
No one is going to call Fenway anything other than Fenway. It’s the same with Yankee stadium, Lambeau field, etc.
He literally did the opposite of what you are describing – he turned Fenway into a brand itself when he made FSG.
That ball park has always been that way since it’s inception. It started as ENRON Field
No because Fenway Park , as a name, will make more than any other sponsor
John Henry is the old reason Fenway is still standing
They don’t need to. They already have “official partners”. The fan backlash would make any gains moot and sour already fragile relations between ownership and fans.
Fenway is a national historic landmark, added on 2012 for the 100 year anniversary. Because of that I would assume they won’t change the name
So long as his ownership group is branded “Fenway Sports Group” there is zero chance that happens. Not to mention they literally trademarked “The Fenway Experience” last year.
The refusal to sell the name out (or move to a new stadium, etc) is the one (1) thing that Henry still deserves credit for.
I thought they already did. Isn’t it now called “The Fenway Park Experience”!
That’s never ever going to to happen I mean we had a plan for a modern Fenway Park with more seats, better parking etc etc and it was vetoed by the public.
I will put nothing past him. I could see it being changed to something like Fidelity Field at Fenway Park if FSG is greedy enough but I hope it never happens.
I would choose that over the uniform ads.
As long as the check clears, I put nothing past Mr. Henry.
I am one of those old guys that absolutely hates that most of the modern sports arenas are named after who the corporate people are.i like tradition. Even if you demolish an old stadium, and build a brand new one, you should call it the same thing to keep a legacy and tradition. When they tore down the old Boston Garden, and built the Fleet Center, i never called it that. I still called it the Garden. Same thing now. I will never say the TD part-just the Garden. I am old and stuck in my ways and would be pissed off if they ever changed the name of Fenway to anything else!
Renaming Fenway would cause way more issues than it would be worth financially for him. The park and name alone make them so much money annually.
What I could see is the renaming of things like entrances. Dunkins Gate, Sam Adams Entrance, things like that. Would get external advertising going, make them money and 95% of fans wouldn’t care.
I could see them getting a sponsor but keeping Fenway in the name, sort of like the TD Garden did. Then everyone can still call it Fenway.
ETA: I guess the “Caesar’s Superdome” is probably the best example of that now
Naming rights are such easy money and franchises only avoid doing it when the park is sort of an icon unto itself like Fenway or Madison Square Garden.
The name Fenway itself was partly commercially motivated, since then-owner Taylor chose the name in part because he owned the Fenway Realty Company
Not sure why the name change of a stadium that already had a corporate name is triggering this question. These aren’t similar situations.
He literally did the exact opposite of this. He monetized/branded the word Fenway by creating FSG lol. You could also argue the Henry buying the team is a big reason Fenway is still standing. A lot of rumors at that time about different ownership coming in and destroying the ballpark to build somewhere else. Henry pretty much saved Fenway (the whole neighborhood) and developed it into what it is today.
Dunkin’ Park is already a thing in Hartford CT, home of the minor league team the Yard Goats.
[Dunkin’ Park](https://www.milb.com/hartford/ballpark/ddp-navigation)
Nothing is off limits. Even Arrowhead stadium changed their name. It’s now GEHA Field at Arrowhead or something like that. Considering ownership has sold literal bricks and dirt, I wouldn’t put it past them to sell the name too.
Fenway is the brand now.
Renaming Fenway is contrary to John Henry’s interests. He and his group have worked hard to build a Fenway brand (*Fenway* Sports Group), which would indicate that he has much more to gain financially from the symbolism of Fenway than he does from a renaming.
I hope he knows that all of Boston would lose their shit if they sold out to that degree.
It helps that it’s a national landmark and there may be protections in there about naming
Sea dogs just did something similar
Everything shouldn’t be about money. But go ahead, it’s still going to be Minute Maid just like it’s still Safeco and AT&T.