I always thought these corporate naming deals for stadiums were gross. I remember when Canadian stadiums had names like "The Coliseum" and "The Skydome" instead of "The Roger's Center".
My favourite is MAC³PARK Stadium, the home of FC Zwolle in Zwolle, the Netherlands.
It is named after MAC³PARK, a collection of extremely boring business parks (ie office buildings in an industrial zone). The business parks in question are in nowhere near Zwolle (for Dutch standards).
I mean F1 teams are literally named directly after their corporate owners too (who are not necessarily the ones designing the engines/...) and people seem to love that.
I get why they do it, but at the very least it should be "sponsor name real name", not "sponsor name generic description of arena".
Spotify Camp Nou is annoying and worse than Camp Nou, but at least there is some soul and belonging. "Spotify Arena" would have been disgusting and empty.
It always boggles my mind when fans say "so and so at the AT&T stadium"... Until a new sponsor comes in.
I guess they are laughing it off because it was another Allianz sponsored stadium depicted, and they got the OK from Allianz to make the joke as it is free attention.
If the AI design had chosen a non-Allianz branded location I bet the response would be different.
The race has nothing to do with the stadium, other than running past it. They don’t have to get permission from anyone. Also, there’s no evidence that AI was involved, it could have just as easily been some designer googling for “Allianz Stadium” and illustrating the first thing that came up.
The government of New South Wales (the Australian state of which Sydney is the capital) commissioned a corporate logo depicting a waratah (the NSW state flower) and got one showing a lotus. They still use it on everything.
"Good enough for Australia" is a phrase I frequently heard from Aussies. There seems to be this attitude there that they're a frontier country where one improvises (half asses?) everything.
Pretty much. A lot of the innovations of our nation, come from that. Things like utes, inflatable escape slides on planes, race cameras, are all "hacks".
But considering you can still see the gold mine which caused the foundation of my town, it isn't that surprising. We might not be the battlers we believe we are, but there's still a history of a people all around us.
"Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck." - coined by social critic and journalist Donald Horne in his 1964 book The Lucky Country.
And they just flat out told everyone who pointed it out -- nope, you're looking at it wrong; and anyway we already paid those consultants so we'd better use it, what?
Easy mistake when there are 7 Allianz Stadiums in the world
https://www.allianz.com/en/about-us/brand/partnerships/stadi...
And it was probably 8 when they were designing the medal but Palmeiras didn't extend the naming rights contract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubank_Parque
Bayern Munich's stadium is one of the more famous in the world. More interesting that 0 people recognised it in the design process.
I always thought these corporate naming deals for stadiums were gross. I remember when Canadian stadiums had names like "The Coliseum" and "The Skydome" instead of "The Roger's Center".
Lower league european football kits are my favourite, there is a team behind the ads
https://files.catbox.moe/a3fxhw.webp
https://files.catbox.moe/0op34u.jpeg
My favourite is MAC³PARK Stadium, the home of FC Zwolle in Zwolle, the Netherlands.
It is named after MAC³PARK, a collection of extremely boring business parks (ie office buildings in an industrial zone). The business parks in question are in nowhere near Zwolle (for Dutch standards).
They remind me of the "Brought to You by Carl’s Jr" scenes from Idiocracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAM1rSObk4c
Year of the Depend adult undergarment.
Brought to you by a burning desire to serve supremely my own interests.
E-Sports teams are still the funniest here. From Shopify Black/Rebellion Gold to T1.
"BC Place" is still BC Place. It was the only World Cup venue that didn't have to hang drapes over its real name.
Wait til you see the names of the actual teams in the Japanese baseball league.
Real pro cycling teams:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_WorldTeam#2026 for this year's crop of linoleum manufacturers, insurance firms, and sportswashing petro-states.I mean F1 teams are literally named directly after their corporate owners too (who are not necessarily the ones designing the engines/...) and people seem to love that.
One German football team is named after a pharmaceuticals multinational.
(A special case, it was the workers team for the Bayer plant, like Woolwich Arsenal or 'Locomotiv' of many Slavic cities)
At least that one started as a worker's club. The worse offender is named after an energy drink.
This Indian cricket team is splendidly named:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune_Warriors_India
Any examples?
Most of the NPB teams are corporate owned and named
- Chunichi Dragons > Chunichi Shimbun (news corporation)
- Hanshin Tigers > Hanshin Electric Railway
- Tokyo Yakult Swallows > Yakult Honsha (yes, the probiotic milk beverage company)
- Yokohama DeNA BayStars > DeNA (ecommerce/mobile games/online services)
- Yomiuri Giants > Yomiuri Shimbun (media conglomerate)
- Chiba Lotte Marines > Lotte Holdings (related to the South Korean Lotte Corporation mostly known for their confectionery and ice creams)
- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks > SoftBank (I think everyone knows them on HN)
- Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters > Nippon Ham (food processing)
- Orix Buffaloes > Orix (investment banking)
- Saitama Seibu Lions > Seibu Railway
- Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles > Rakuten (I think everyone knows them on HN)
But that's not a Japanese only thing, the Korean (KBO) and Taiwanese (CPBL) baseball leagues are the same
Kia Tigers, KT Wiz, LG Twins, Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions
CTBC Brothers, Rakuten Monkeys, Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, Fubon Guardians
And not even a baseball thing only the football teams in the region are the same
They basically embed company names directly into team names.
Here is a couple of examples: Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
I get why they do it, but at the very least it should be "sponsor name real name", not "sponsor name generic description of arena".
Spotify Camp Nou is annoying and worse than Camp Nou, but at least there is some soul and belonging. "Spotify Arena" would have been disgusting and empty.
It always boggles my mind when fans say "so and so at the AT&T stadium"... Until a new sponsor comes in.
The pun in this follow-up makes the whole mixup worthwhile: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4n4l1yyvro
"'We're not going to run from it': Sydney Marathon laughs off medal error"
I guess they are laughing it off because it was another Allianz sponsored stadium depicted, and they got the OK from Allianz to make the joke as it is free attention.
If the AI design had chosen a non-Allianz branded location I bet the response would be different.
The race has nothing to do with the stadium, other than running past it. They don’t have to get permission from anyone. Also, there’s no evidence that AI was involved, it could have just as easily been some designer googling for “Allianz Stadium” and illustrating the first thing that came up.
The government of New South Wales (the Australian state of which Sydney is the capital) commissioned a corporate logo depicting a waratah (the NSW state flower) and got one showing a lotus. They still use it on everything.
"Good enough for Australia" is a phrase I frequently heard from Aussies. There seems to be this attitude there that they're a frontier country where one improvises (half asses?) everything.
Pretty much. A lot of the innovations of our nation, come from that. Things like utes, inflatable escape slides on planes, race cameras, are all "hacks".
But considering you can still see the gold mine which caused the foundation of my town, it isn't that surprising. We might not be the battlers we believe we are, but there's still a history of a people all around us.
"Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck." - coined by social critic and journalist Donald Horne in his 1964 book The Lucky Country.
And they just flat out told everyone who pointed it out -- nope, you're looking at it wrong; and anyway we already paid those consultants so we'd better use it, what?
Right there with the Milwaukee Marathon misspelling “Marathon” on their medals this year.
https://marathonhandbook.com/milwaukee-marathon-handed-out-4...
Allianz Marketing Head: My son's new favorite website is "Hackernews". They do not run ads, so how can we get the attention of their audience?
Someone vibed the medal design
Model bias towards northern hemisphere
You can tell it's an Aussie medal because all landmarks are depicted upside-down.
AI slop all the way up to the physical world :D
TCS. Say. no. more.