Originally Scheduled At Dolphin Stadium Land Shark Stadium, Super Bowl XLIV Will Now Be Played At Sun Life Stadium

If you've been reading up on the news today (or know anything about where the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins play home games) then you know that the Super Bowl is not actually changing venues, just the venue is changing it's name for the 6th time. That's right, Super Bowl XLIV will be played at Sun Life Stadium! From The Miami Herald

Officials from Toronto-based Sun Life Financial said Wednesday they hope their new stadium naming rights deal with the Miami Dolphins will result in significantly higher name recognition in the United States.

The impact should be immediate, because Sun Life Stadium will play host to the Jan. 31 Pro Bowl on ESPN and Feb. 7 Super Bowl on CBS. Dolphins chief executive officer Mike Dee said the NFL allowed the stadium to change the name in time for both marquee events.

``We've got great presence in Canada and internationally, but we've really lacked brand presence in the U.S.,'' Sun Life Financial U.S. president Westley Thompson said. ``Our efforts are to get our name out so sooner or later, you will know our name. This is another step.''

Priscilla Brown, Sun Life's senior vice president, said the naming rights agreement is for five years, with an option for a minimum of five additional years. An official close to the negotiations said Sun Life's rights fee is less than the $7.5 million reported by Sports Business Journal. The deal is believed to be worth at least $5 million per year.

``Miami was the total package,'' Brown said. ``Three teams playing here was a huge factor.''

The stadium plays host to the Dolphins, University of Miami football team and the Florida Marlins, but the Marlins will move to their own ballpark in 2012.

Sun Life Financial, whose U.S. offices are outside Boston, bills itself as a ``leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers.'' Thompson said the company has $385 billion in assets.

Brown said the region is appealing to Sun Life because ``we have a number of agents who represent our products in South Florida and group offices [here]. The South Florida market is very important to the financial services industry. It's where most of the boomers, where most of the financial services profits will come from in future years.''

Wednesday's announcement was made in front of more than 150 fans at the stadium and included a performance by K.C. and the Sunshine Band. The name will be the stadium's seventh since it opened as Joe Robbie Stadium in 1987. Its other names: Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium and Land Shark Stadium.

The facility had been called Dolphin Stadium for the past two weeks. Land Shark Lager's eight-month naming-rights deal, which did not include a rights fee, expired after the Jan. 5 FedEx Orange Bowl.

Dee noted the agreement is ``the first naming rights deal done of significance in the post recession period. It was love at first sight.''

Was I the only one that didn't know the name went back to Dolphin Stadium after the Orange Bowl?

And I thought that the corporate sponsorship of The Center that hosts the Flyers and the Sixers was crazy. From the Corestates Center to the First Union Center (boy I miss the days of calling our sports arena the F.U. Center) to the Wachovia Center, and with the merger of Wachovia and Wells Fargo currently happening, it will likely be the Wells Fargo Center by the start of next season. And to think, this is a building that opened in 1996! It's crazy the lack of consistency of some of these building names, although I do think that now Sun Life Stadium in Florida. From the time period between January 21, 2009 and January 21, 2010, the name changed 3 times!