Denver's stadium to be named Mile High? - Ingles

The sporting goods company did the good, sporting thing Wednesday.

Is it a sign of the times?

As a result of the passionate, perturbed reaction of multitudes of Broncos fanatics, motorists on Interstate 25 and the corporation's own employees in Colorado, (and the embarrassment of a story in The Denver Post), two temporary banners at the stadium "not only were removed, but they were torn down," a vice president of Sports Authority told me Wednesday night.

"The banners were not what we wanted, not what we expected them to be," said John Schumacher, the company's chief marketing and strategy officer.

He declined to acknowledge which empty suit made the rather nonsensical mistake of ordering painted signs that proclaimed "Sports Authority Field," but left out the imperative "at Mile High" and screamed with a bad, bright red background. "Red is the Kansas City (Chiefs) color, and we live and work in Denver, and we are Broncos fans."

I asked if the signs — which cost $14,000 to create — were burned. "If I had my way, they probably would have been. . . . We embrace the name 'Mile High.' "

On Aug. 16, Sports Authority assumed the stadium naming rights from the previous outfit, whose name I rather forget, especially after the CEO threatened to sue me and this news- paper, and, later, because the investment company was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines because of illegal trading-practice charges.

I've already addressed this new-name issue, and didn't ever want to go there again. My opinion still is: Just call it "Mile High" or, in honor of the people who paid for a majority of the costs, "Taxpayers Stadium."

Mile High Stadium had uniqueness, tradition, toughness. Blank Field had none. But, so be it.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, while driving on the Valley Highway (a nickname), I saw that the old, awful signs had come down, and another massive, garish red sign missing the best part — "Mile High" — had been slapped hastily on the side of the stadium.

I pulled over to the shoulder and, in 90-degree temperature, my body reached 212 degrees, the boiling point.

I wasn't the only upset driver, apparently. People, many of them, complained.

My thought was: If the company won't call the stadium by its official name, why, then, should we?

Maybe we should just try an anagram:

Throaty Is Stupor Field at Mile High.

Or, as a reader suggested, say it backward — as in sniagrab:

Ytirohtuastrops Field at Mile High.

What? Didn't want to take 10 more minutes or one more gallon of paint to include "at Mile High"? Was the sign painter colorblind?

"I assure you that all our new (temporary and permanent) signs will include Mile High," Schumacher said, and the Broncos' colors. "We'd like to help make it a physical and mental home-field advantage for the Broncos. There is 17 percent less oxygen, and we will be reminding visiting teams."

Sports Authority, he said, will implement three phases to enhance the environment and the experience for fans at the stadium.

Denver is not alone in this name game. Most other cities have corporate names on stadiums and arenas, and the media and the fans produced appropriate nicknames for those places.

In Baltimore, the baseball stadium officially is "Oriole Park at Camden Yards." Everybody calls it "Camden Yards."

Ford Field in Detroit is "The Garage," Air Canada Centre in Toronto "The Hangar," Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia "The Linc," Heinz Field in Pittsburgh "The Mustard Palace," Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati "The Jungle," Minute Made Park in Houston "The Juice Box," Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., "The Razor," HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., "The Shark Tank," University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., "The Big Toaster," and on and on.

"We know that there will be some nicknames (for the stadium)," Schumacher said.

But he is intent in getting the company's name and purposes across. "We are partners with the Broncos and the people of Colorado. We are Denver here with 31 stores and 1,700 employees in the state."

At least, the company corrected its first blunder at Mile High. This article was written by Woody Paige and appeared in The Denver Post.