It is not unusual for companies to name commercial buildings after themselves. It is frequently part of a marketing plan, especially when it comes to sports complexes, to sell the naming rights. The market worth of naming rights is acknowledged when it comes to real estate evaluations.
We all know venues like GM Place in Vancouver, the Bell Centre in Montreal and Rexall Place in Edmonton, to name just a few. Nobody has a problem with commercial naming. If you have got the money, go ahead, call the place what you want. Property rights are sacred here.
I find it unsettling, however, when the use of a commercial name is forced to be used in manner that is presented as media objectivity. I think it is wrong to take gross advantage of a commercial building name when it is used out of context and snuck into reporting.
It occurs to me that the people at the Rogers Corporation are taking unscrupulous advantage of the name of the building they call the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
I don’t live in Toronto but I travel there frequently by car. When I drive to the city I listen to traffic reports on radio stations 680 News and the Fan 590. I’ve done so for years. In all the time that I have listened to the traffic reports on these stations I have listened to reports of traffic jams on the Gardiner Expressway by the Spadina off ramp or the York Street interchange. These places are commonly congested every day and these problem areas were reported frequently throughout the morning and afternoon rush hours.
Those reports changed right after Rogers purchased the baseball stadium once known as SkyDome and changed its name to the Rogers Centre.
The interchanges of Spadina and York are suddenly not mentioned much anymore. I would argue that we don’t hear those intersection names at all on 680 News or the Fan 590.
During rush hour we now hear about traffic back ups at the “Rogers Centre”. Even if traffic is not jammed up, we hear, “Traffic is moving well as you go past the Rogers Centre.” We hear it every 10 minutes. And it seems we hear it 10 times within every 10-minute report.
It seems wrong to me to force the name “Rogers Centre” on thousands of people listening for traffic all day long. No other radio station that reports on traffic makes such frequent use of the name. In fact I don’t think other radio stations mention the Rogers Centre at all.
It is odd that the closest named commercial center to these traffic problem areas is the Air Canada Centre. It is so close to the expressway you could almost reach your hand out during a traffic jam and touch it. The Rogers Centre is significantly further away. And yet on 680 News and the Fan 590, you hear about traffic by the Rogers Centre all day long.
Both of those stations are owned by Rogers.
It occurs to me that if you drive in Toronto you might be passing the geographic vicinity of the Rogers Centre but Rogers isn’t passing the mustard when it comes to reporting integrity.
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. E-mail [email protected] or discuss this article in the REM Discussion Forum.
