My hatred for the sports teams of New York City is part of my DNA, but I still have always felt a bit sorry for the New York Jets for having to play in Giants Stadium. Things seemed to be looking up on that front when it was announced that the spankin’ new arena set to open shortly would be simply be called “New Meadowlands Stadium.” But the owners of a dating website for cheaters want to make it so that both teams are shamed by the name of their new digs. According to TMZ, the dirty dogs at AshleyMadison.com have made an offer of $25 million for five years worth of naming rights to the new stadium. If accepted — which it won’t be, but let’s just hypothesize, shall we? — that would mean the 2014 Super Bowl would be brought to you live from AshelyMadison.com stadium. Classy.
At first blush, it would seem that a sporting venue sponsored by a website promoting adultery is just wrong and immoral. Then again, there are arenas and stadia from coast to coast who have sold naming rights to corporations guilty of all sorts of corporate malfeasance. The difference is that ashleymadison.com facilitates screwing between consenting adults, while other corporate interests are doing the screwing. It’s a difference only in semantics, right? Either that or selective moralization.
Being the good, decent upstanding sorts that we are (WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN??), we have all sorts of arbitrary standards about which corporate interests are worthy of obtaining naming rights to glittering, palatial cathedrals of jock worship. Minute Maid Park? Acceptable. Vagisil Field? Not Acceptable? Citi Field? Acceptable. Preparation H Arena? WAY unacceptable. How is it, though, that Citibank, one of Wall Street’s largest paragons of greed and avarice, gets a free pass, but makers of “embarrassing” personal hygiene products would not? One of the world’s largest banks, which almost brought the American economy to its knees raises barely a peep when its name is slapped on a baseball stadium. I’m guessing that the world’s largest maker of colostomy bags would be roundly shouted down as unworthy of naming rights and the associated signage.
Hypocritical? Duh…but oh, so typically American.
