Populous Vote: HOK Sport Renames Itself As Part Of Recent Buyout
By Don Muret, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Populous Name Represents Involvement
In Venues And Events, Not Just Sports |
HOK Sport is now Populous, the new name chosen after the practice's recently completed buyout and separation from HOK Group in St. Louis. It reflects the expertise of sports' biggest architect in drawing people together for events, Senior Principal Joe Spear said. He added the vote for the name was unanimous among the firm's 13 principal investors. The firm was required to find a new name as part of its separation from HOK, and Spear said, "We’re not just involved in sports, but also venues and events, so I think [Populous] is a name that fits everything we do rather than ‘sport.’ That’s the message we want to get across.” To launch the new brand, Populous launched a new Web site, populous.com, that went live at 12:00am PT. The rebranding comes a few weeks before Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium -- two billion-dollar projects of theirs -- open for the regular season. In addition, Populous designed TCF Bank Stadium, the Univ. of Minnesota's new football stadium opening in September. The $288M venue is college sports' most expensive project to date. In its 26 years in sports design, Populous has developed more than 1,000 projects with construction value exceeding $20B. The firm has worked with 24 MLB teams, 30 NFL clubs, 80 additional pro clients and 120 colleges. Milkshake Media, Austin, which created the LiveStrong brand for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, handled the rebranding.
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