I was quietly planning a hiatus from blogging, since I will be a full-time grad student in addition to being a full-time employee soon. But that was before reading the news today. I’ve already went to great lengths to gripe about the Coliseum renovation, so why stop now?

So if you haven’t heard the news, The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum got a naming rights deal for $70 million over 15 years. From United. Yes, that United.

It’s one thing to have a naming rights deal. I don’t think it works for certain stadiums. Certainly not ones with so much history. What could you add to “Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum” that wouldn’t make it significantly worse? I’ll wait to see how that one shakes out. Maybe they’ll find a way to do it tastefully.

But United Airlines? The same United that had a huge customer service and PR blunder about a month ago? I don’t know if that’s the best thing to associate with at the moment. Don’t tell me they couldn’t and wouldn’t be picky as long as somebody was paying. If it was $100 million over 15 years from a company like…Trojan Condoms, do you think USC would’ve taken it? Someone probably would’ve said, “hey, maybe all the jokes and negative publicity connected to that wouldn’t be worth the money.” But the next best thing, United Airlines, that’s okay.

So let the jokes begin.

They might as well let the Raiders lease a spot again. That way, when you get beat up by a fan, security can tell you that it was sponsored by United.

Great timing on the part of USC. When you’re about to take out 16,000 seats, displacing a bunch of upset fans, who else would you go to for a sponsorship? Because nobody displaces upset customers like United.

This one is a personal anecdote. The one time I went to the Coliseum for an NFL game, I saw quite a few interesting things. All of it seems awfully relevant now. It was an LA Rams preseason game and I went just for the hell of it. I entered around kick off and saw a fight in the stands that ended in security escorting them out. Then a fight broke out on the field, leading to a few ejections. As it neared halftime, a group came in, claiming we were in their seats. We all produced our tickets and realized that a seller on StubHub managed to sell the same seats twice. For some reason, the ticket scanners at the gate still let us all in. Overbooking seems to be the norm!

You know what, I’m not sure why I am criticizing this naming rights deal anymore. It’s a better match than most Tinder dates.

CommBro Breaker

Whooooa wait. I got a naming rights deal offer for $150 dollars over 8 years!! That’s $18.75 a year. Do you know how many chicken nuggets I can get with that?! Like 120 at Burger King or something.

As a result, the name of my blog will be changing to City of Angles presented by The Onion.

See you at the Coliseum for years to come!