The St. Louis Blues and their fans knew they were likely going to have a new name for their arena. The result of the naming rights ended up being somewhat of a surprise.
Science fiction fans rejoice – we now have absolute gold when it comes to the new name of the St. Louis Blues home arena. Scottrade Center will be re-dubbed Enterprise Center. Cue all the Star Trek references.
Mike Yeo will be starring as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Doug Armstrong will be making a special appearance as Locutus, a Borg. Alex Pietrangelo will take the mantle of Captain Kirk (most likely the newer version).
If we still had Ryan Reaves, we could make Worf references. I have not come up with anyone that could be Spock, but you get the gist of it. The only thing that would make this announcement more awesome, from a comedic nerd standpoint, would be if it was named Death Star Center.
The memes are going to write themselves. You know everyone’s first trip is going to be tagged with lines like ‘Boarding the Enterprise for the first time’ or ‘the Blues prepare for warp speed on Enterprise home ice’, etc and so on.
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The only awkwardness to this announcement was the fact they stuck with Center. I have no clue why it needs to remain Center.
Enterprise Arena rolls off the tongue so much easier. Enterprise Center just sounds like a bingo hall where you watch local wrestling shows, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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In seriousness, this announcment came as somewhat of a shock. Most assumed TD Ameritrade would overtake the naming rights since they had first rights to it. That was the company that bought Scottrade some months ago and many assumed they would just slap their name up on the banner.
According to the Post-Dispatch, TD Ameritrade will remain a sponsor in an unnamed capacity. However, they mutually agreed with the Blues to dissolve their current naming rights deal.
This is the second time that has happened. In 2006, Saavis pulled out of their naming rights deal when “Savvis CEO Rob McCormick said it was no longer the best use of the company’s marketing dollars.” (from STL Today)
So, within the last 18 years, we have gone from Kiel Center to Saavis Center to Scottrade Center and now Enterprise. The likelihood of people still calling it Kiel or simply the arena is high. Nevertheless, it shines a light on how fleeting these things are. The days of St. Louis Arena or Chicago Stadium or Boston Garden are just a fading memory now.
On the positive side, it is always good to see a local company investing dollars in a local team. Enterprise had signed up to have the naming rights on the proposed riverfront stadium that would have housed an NFL team. That went into dust in the wind like a certain recent movie that shall not be named for spoiler purposes.
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Now, we must prepare all our best puns and memes. Get the warp drives ready and set phasers to stun. Thank your lucky stars the Blues do not wear red shirts, because we all know what happens to the red shirts on the Enterprise.
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It’s going to be an entertaining first season at the Enterprise. I have to wonder how many ushers will be referred to as Scotty. Maybe Angella Sharpe will even put one of those things in her ear like Uhura. The possibilities are endless. Live long and prosper, Blues fans.