Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170040
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS LENGTH: Long
Like most of its competitors, Trans World Airlines will have a sports arena to call its own when the new downtown domed stadium opens here this fall.
TWA and the St. Louis Rams last month said the $260 million stadium will be dubbed the Trans World Dome. TWA will pay the Rams $1.3 million a year for 20 years.
Around the country, ballparks and arenas already bear the names of other airlines - United (Chicago), America West (Phoenix), USAir (Landover, Md.) and Delta (Salt Lake City). And airlines aren't alone. In San Francisco, Candlestick Park recently was renamed 3Com Park. That's because the Santa Clara, Calif., data networking company agreed to pay $500,000 to help remodel the 35-year-old stadium.
St. Louis, in fact, is home to another corporate-named facility, Busch Stadium, which opened in 1966. The stadium and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team both are owned by the Anheuser-Busch brewery.
Mark Coleman helped land the Phoenix arena for America West when he was marketing director for that airline. He joined TWA last July.
Sponsoring the sports arena was ``extremely beneficial'' for America West, Coleman said, and should be even better for TWA.. ``The only drawback is a name like America West or United is not always connected in people's minds to the airline,'' he said. ``We are really fortunate in that both Trans World and TWA are among the most recognizable brand identifiers in the world. I think we'll have an easier time connecting.''
Soon, travelers flying over downtown will be able to squint down and see the TWA logo atop the roof of the domed stadium. Two other exterior signs will feature the carrier's name, one of them facing busy Interstate 70.
Lighted signs will adorn all four corners of the interior, next to auxiliary scoreboards. Even name tags of workers will show the TWA logo.
All that publicity is almost superfluous, Coleman said.
``The primary media benefit for us is not on the inside of the building,'' Coleman said. ``It is the exposure to the outside world.''
TWA can reach more travelers through the stadium deal than spending an equal amount on commercials, Coleman said. Funding will come from the airline's $48 million advertising budget.
The dome deal came just more than a week after TWA emerged from Chapter 11, its second trip to bankruptcy court in three years.
Is this any way for a recently bankrupt company, still $1.2 billion in debt, to spend its money?
Certainly, said Barbara Beyer, president of Avmark Inc., an Arlington, Va., firm that provides marketing and consulting services for airlines.
``It's a reasonably inexpensive investment - just a drop in the bucket for an airline's advertising budget,'' Beyer said. ``Obviously, TWA gets lots of publicity. Basically, every time you have a game that's put on TV, they'll be referring to it as the TWA Dome.''
Creditors and unions representing TWA employees agree. The recently approved bankruptcy plan gave creditors 70 percent of the airline's stock and a majority of seats on its board of directors. The board approved the dome deal.
Also giving their blessings were leaders of TWA's unions, which represent workers who agreed to significant wage and benefit concessions that helped keep the company afloat.
Just because the company has struggled financially in recent years is no reason to stop selling itself, Beyer said.
``You're not going to attract passengers to your airline if you don't advertise,'' she said.
However, some St. Louis area residents don't like the idea of corporate sponsorship for a stadium built by taxpayers. Others think ``Trans World Dome'' lacks creativity.
Richard Hackman believes so strongly that Trans World Dome is a poor choice of names that he spent a recent Sunday picketing outside a Rams game at Busch Stadium, the team's temporary home, with a sign that read, ``Help Change Dome Name to Sheep Shed.''
Hackman said his 20-member Sheep's Shed Group plans to file a lawsuit to block TWA's sponsorship.
``TWA's a marvelous company, but it is a private company,'' Hackman said. ``The building is 100 percent public owned.
``We just feel that with the amount of money spent we want a name the whole country can catch onto. We want people around the country to say, `Hey - great name.'''
Tony Mullen objects, too.
``The Trans World Dome? Give me a break,'' he wrote in a letter to the editor printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ``We, the taxpayers, spend millions of dollars to build this state of the art facility and don't get a say in what the dome is called.''
But Rams spokeswoman Allison Collinger said the team has heard only a few complaints about the dome, which is scheduled to open Nov 12 when the Rams play the Carolina Panthers. ``Most of the feedback I've heard has been positive,'' she said.
by CNB