Wait til you see the names of the actual teams in the Japanese baseball league.

Real pro cycling teams:

    SmartStop-Mountain Khakis p/b Jittery Joe's

    Bodysol EuroMillions Pôle Continental Wallon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_WorldTeam#2026 for this year's crop of linoleum manufacturers, insurance firms, and sportswashing petro-states.

Those two teams are/were not professional. Not that you are wrong about naming conventions.

I mean F1 teams are literally named directly after their corporate owners too (who are not necessarily the ones designing the engines/...) and people seem to love that.

One German football team is named after a pharmaceuticals multinational.

(A special case, it was the workers team for the Bayer plant, like Woolwich Arsenal or 'Locomotiv' of many Slavic cities)

At least that one started as a worker's club. The worse offender is named after an energy drink.

Any examples?

Most of the NPB teams are corporate owned and named

- Chunichi Dragons > Chunichi Shimbun (news corporation)

- Hanshin Tigers > Hanshin Electric Railway

- Tokyo Yakult Swallows > Yakult Honsha (yes, the probiotic milk beverage company)

- Yokohama DeNA BayStars > DeNA (ecommerce/mobile games/online services)

- Yomiuri Giants > Yomiuri Shimbun (media conglomerate)

- Chiba Lotte Marines > Lotte Holdings (related to the South Korean Lotte Corporation mostly known for their confectionery and ice creams)

- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks > SoftBank (I think everyone knows them on HN)

- Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters > Nippon Ham (food processing)

- Orix Buffaloes > Orix (investment banking)

- Saitama Seibu Lions > Seibu Railway

- Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles > Rakuten (I think everyone knows them on HN)

But that's not a Japanese only thing, the Korean (KBO) and Taiwanese (CPBL) baseball leagues are the same

Kia Tigers, KT Wiz, LG Twins, Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions

CTBC Brothers, Rakuten Monkeys, Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, Fubon Guardians

And not even a baseball thing only the football teams in the region are the same

They basically embed company names directly into team names.

Here is a couple of examples: Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

This Indian cricket team is splendidly named:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pune_Warriors_India

E-Sports teams are still the funniest here. From Shopify Black/Rebellion Gold to T1.

They remind me of the "Brought to You by Carl’s Jr" scenes from Idiocracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAM1rSObk4c

Year of the Depend adult undergarment.

Brought to you by a burning desire to serve supremely my own interests.

Lower league european football kits are my favourite, there is a team behind the ads

https://files.catbox.moe/a3fxhw.webp

https://files.catbox.moe/0op34u.jpeg

That's the closest to Nascar I've seen yet. At the same time, I'm still a fan for the idea that elected officials should be forced to wear their sponsor's logos on their suits like this as well.

There would be a bunch of Super PACs with a fabric swatch as a logo.

My favourite is MAC³PARK Stadium, the home of FC Zwolle in Zwolle, the Netherlands.

It is named after MAC³PARK, a collection of extremely boring business parks (ie office buildings in an industrial zone). The business parks in question are in nowhere near Zwolle (for Dutch standards).

"BC Place" is still BC Place. It was the only World Cup venue that didn't have to hang drapes over its real name.

I get why they do it, but at the very least it should be "sponsor name real name", not "sponsor name generic description of arena".

Spotify Camp Nou is annoying and worse than Camp Nou, but at least there is some soul and belonging. "Spotify Arena" would have been disgusting and empty.

It always boggles my mind when fans say "so and so at the AT&T stadium"... Until a new sponsor comes in.

>so and so at the AT&T stadium

In at least one town with a stadium of that name, most people do not refer to it by that name. Instead, it is referred to as Jerry's World for the owner of the franchise.

Concert venues are another naming rights area that is confusing. There's one in particular that has had its name changed so many times that I do not know what it is currently called. Instead, it is often referred to by the original sponsor by pretty much anyone of a certain age. Even if you call it the older name to younger people, they know which venue. Some names stick.

Capital One Arena is the current name for where the Washington Capitals play at home so that's an example that kind of works.

Yes. Or in case of Berlin where whole places and other places get renamed when the sponsor changes. O2 Arena -> Mercedes Benz Arena -> Uber Arena. Even other locations around it changed as well as the plaza name.

And when a FIFA world cup is hosted the stadium gets renamed for the duration if the stadium‘s sponsor isn‘t a FIFA sponsor.

I much rather have corporations waste money funding sports that some people enjoy, than wasting it on commercial campaigns that does nothing but burn money and steal our attention.

It's easy to say behind the comfort of the keyboard. For a sport team to exist and survive, there are only a few options:

- Charge the fans more, revolt guaranteed, "forgetting the root, ungrateful" and all that.

- Merchandise. Now teams change jersey every year -- with home, away, 3rd jerseys. Game, practice, and many more variations.

- Beholden to the leagues. Premier League is prime example, or for a scandal see European Super League.

- Advertising. Well, you know how HN hate advertising.

- Sell out to the highest bidders. Red Bull, private equity (Liverpool, Arsenal, etc.)

- Find a sugar daddy. Oligarchs or nation states (Roman Abramovich's Chelsea, Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, Newcastle)

Pick the least evils.

The stadium isn't owned by any team playing there isn't?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allianz_Arena

Also, FCB posts and annual profit of about €30m. They're not poor.

https://footballfinancelab.com/bayern-munich-financial-repor...