In Phoenix, Bob Young noted Arizona State Univ. AD & VP/Athletics Steve Patterson on Tuesday gave a “state-of-the-program update,” and indicated that the school is “prepared to place naming rights to a renovated Sun Devil Stadium on the market.” Patterson said that the “first step is to determine what value the rights have.” MidFirst Bank, which “already has a deal with ASU, evidently gets first dibs among financial institutions if it wants the naming rights.” Patterson said that ASU “soon will determine whether to renovate in stages or move out for a season and use 21 months to do it all in one fell swoop.” He “didn't rule out playing a season in Glendale at University of Phoenix Stadium or at Chase Field downtown” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/8).
LOOKING FOR WORK: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Katy Stech noted Demco, the construction firm that helped tear down the old Yankee Stadium, has “been crushed by the prolonged economic downturn, prompting it to file for bankruptcy.” Demco said that it has “had trouble finding work to keep busy" after finishing the $20M demolition job on the former Yankee Stadium. In '08, it “took down Miami’s 72,000-seat Orange Bowl stadium.” Demco also took in $2.7M “to remove the 98-story Memorial Auditorium in downtown Buffalo, N.Y., once home to the Buffalo Sabres hockey team” (WSJ.com, 8/8).
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: The Dolphins announced a new partnership with Doctors Hospital Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine that includes naming rights to the team’s training facility in Davie, Fla. The facility will be called the Doctors Hospital Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University (Dolphins). In Miami, R.J. Rico notes the new name comes “after 19 years of being known as the Miami Dolphins Training Facility.” Dolphins CEO Mike Dee, NSU President George L. Hanbury II, Doctors Hospital CEO Nelson Lazo and four Dolphins cheerleaders "were on hand to announce the partnership and unveil the new entrance sign” (MIAMI HERALD, 8/9).
