Buffalo Bisons' Downtown Ballpark To Be Renamed Coca-Cola Field

Bisons, Coca-Cola Agree To A 10-Year Deal To Rename Dunn Tire Park Coca-Cola Field

The city of Buffalo and the Triple-A Int'l League Bisons yesterday announced the team's downtown ballpark "will be called Coca-Cola Field as of Jan. 1," according to Mike Harrington of the BUFFALO NEWS. The deal with the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Buffalo is for 10 years and "includes all signs in and around the ballpark as well as the continuation of a cross-promotional campaign the Bisons and Coca-Cola signed" in '04. Rich Baseball Operations President Jon Dandes "refused to put a dollar amount on the agreement." Harrington notes this "will be the fourth corporate name for the ballpark," which opened in '88 as Pilot Field. The deal with Coca-Cola "also includes an extension for pouring rights that runs concurrent with naming rights." Dandes said that the deal "had been in discussion stages for more than a year." Meanwhile, Buffalo-based Dunn Tire Chair Randy Clark, whose company had owned the naming rights to the ballpark since '99, said that marketing research indicated that "because of that affiliation Dunn Tire now has name recognition that is four times any competitor's" (BUFFALO NEWS, 12/18).