Baseball Guru
11-09-2001, 10:32 PM
By KRISTEN HAYS
Associated Press Writer
November 9, 2001, 8:45 PM EST
HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros' stadium won't be nicknamed "Home Run Field" much longer.
Houston-based energy marketer Dynegy Inc. announced Friday that it will buy Enron Corp., the $100 million namesake of the Astros' ballpark. The companies will operate independently until the deal closes, possibly next summer.
The new company will keep Dynegy's name and lose Enron's -- and Houston's $251 million ballpark could see the same change, Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. said.
McLane said the team's 30-year naming rights agreement with Enron allows another company to give the ballpark a new name in case of a merger. The Astros have the right to approve or reject a change.
"We want to work with (Dynegy chairman and chief executive) Chuck Watson and we look forward to working with Dynegy," McLane said.
Watson said the ballpark name wasn't an issue as the companies hammered out the merger agreement this week.
"Quite honestly, it has not come up," Watson said Friday. "This is about two strong companies going forward. It is something we will have to deal with in the months coming up."
Since opening before the 2000 season, Enron Field has become known as one of the best parks for hitters in the majors. There have been 496 homers hit in Enron the past two years, 19 percent more than in Astros road games.
Coincidentally, Houston's other company-named sports facility also is in question. The corporate namesake of the Compaq Center basketball/hockey arena, Compaq Computer Corp., is being bought by Hewlett-Packard Co.
Enron Field wouldn't be the first venue to change names because of a merger or other corporate decision by the naming-rights owner.
CoreStates Arena, home to the Philadelphia 76ers and the Philadelphia Flyers, became First Union Arena when First Union Corp. acquired CoreStates Financial Corp. in 1998.
Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, N.Y., became HSBC Arena last year because Marine Midland in 1999 changed its name to HSBC Bank USA as part of a global branding strategy.
Such changes are inevitable when 61 major league sports facilities bear corporate names in an age of many mergers and acquisitions, said Dean Bonham of the Bonham Group in Denver, a sports and entertainment marketing firm.
"Mergers and acquisitions had no effect on the sports industry just 10 years ago," he said. "Today they can have a significant affect on the community beyond the direct impact on the company itself."
Enron chairman and chief executive Ken Lay, who said Friday he had been invited to serve on the new company's board of directors, helped create Enron Field before buying its name.
By 1996 McLane had determined it was time to move from the once-futuristic though aging Astrodome, and threatened to sell part of the team and move to Virginia unless a new ballpark was built in Houston.
That year Lay put together a consortium that provided a $34.7 million no-interest loan to buy the land in downtown Houston and subsidize the 42,000-seat ballpark's construction costs.
Enron also manages the ballpark's mechanical and electrical equipment and energy services which officials said would earn up to $200 million over 30 years. McLane said Dynegy likely would continue that deal.
Associated Press Writer
November 9, 2001, 8:45 PM EST
HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros' stadium won't be nicknamed "Home Run Field" much longer.
Houston-based energy marketer Dynegy Inc. announced Friday that it will buy Enron Corp., the $100 million namesake of the Astros' ballpark. The companies will operate independently until the deal closes, possibly next summer.
The new company will keep Dynegy's name and lose Enron's -- and Houston's $251 million ballpark could see the same change, Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. said.
McLane said the team's 30-year naming rights agreement with Enron allows another company to give the ballpark a new name in case of a merger. The Astros have the right to approve or reject a change.
"We want to work with (Dynegy chairman and chief executive) Chuck Watson and we look forward to working with Dynegy," McLane said.
Watson said the ballpark name wasn't an issue as the companies hammered out the merger agreement this week.
"Quite honestly, it has not come up," Watson said Friday. "This is about two strong companies going forward. It is something we will have to deal with in the months coming up."
Since opening before the 2000 season, Enron Field has become known as one of the best parks for hitters in the majors. There have been 496 homers hit in Enron the past two years, 19 percent more than in Astros road games.
Coincidentally, Houston's other company-named sports facility also is in question. The corporate namesake of the Compaq Center basketball/hockey arena, Compaq Computer Corp., is being bought by Hewlett-Packard Co.
Enron Field wouldn't be the first venue to change names because of a merger or other corporate decision by the naming-rights owner.
CoreStates Arena, home to the Philadelphia 76ers and the Philadelphia Flyers, became First Union Arena when First Union Corp. acquired CoreStates Financial Corp. in 1998.
Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, N.Y., became HSBC Arena last year because Marine Midland in 1999 changed its name to HSBC Bank USA as part of a global branding strategy.
Such changes are inevitable when 61 major league sports facilities bear corporate names in an age of many mergers and acquisitions, said Dean Bonham of the Bonham Group in Denver, a sports and entertainment marketing firm.
"Mergers and acquisitions had no effect on the sports industry just 10 years ago," he said. "Today they can have a significant affect on the community beyond the direct impact on the company itself."
Enron chairman and chief executive Ken Lay, who said Friday he had been invited to serve on the new company's board of directors, helped create Enron Field before buying its name.
By 1996 McLane had determined it was time to move from the once-futuristic though aging Astrodome, and threatened to sell part of the team and move to Virginia unless a new ballpark was built in Houston.
That year Lay put together a consortium that provided a $34.7 million no-interest loan to buy the land in downtown Houston and subsidize the 42,000-seat ballpark's construction costs.
Enron also manages the ballpark's mechanical and electrical equipment and energy services which officials said would earn up to $200 million over 30 years. McLane said Dynegy likely would continue that deal.