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Sort of.....

The FleetCenter has a new name: TD BankNorth Garden.

The bank reached an agreement with arena owner Delaware North Cos. to put its name (TD BankNorth Garden) on the home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, the companies announced Thursday.

I put the over/under at 10 minutes before everyone in Boston is calling it "The Garden" again.

Isn't this the Derek Jeter Center?

There's only one arena worthy of the name "The Garden" and it's right here in NYC - Madison Square Garden.

More championships have been won in the Boston Garden than MSG, that fact alone makes it worthy enough in my book.

BottleofRum wrote:Sort of.....

The FleetCenter has a new name: TD BankNorth Garden.

The bank reached an agreement with arena owner Delaware North Cos. to put its name (TD BankNorth Garden) on the home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, the companies announced Thursday.

I put the over/under at 10 minutes before everyone in Boston is calling it "The Garden" again.

Well if you took the "under" then you would have won because everyone on WEEI was calling in right when the deal happened calling it THE GARDEN.

Boy it sure is wonderful to have the GAAAAAAHDEN back!

parrothead338 wrote:

BottleofRum wrote:Sort of.....

The FleetCenter has a new name: TD BankNorth Garden.

The bank reached an agreement with arena owner Delaware North Cos. to put its name (TD BankNorth Garden) on the home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, the companies announced Thursday.

I put the over/under at 10 minutes before everyone in Boston is calling it "The Garden" again.

Well if you took the "under" then you would have won because everyone on WEEI was calling in right when the deal happened calling it THE GARDEN.

Boy it sure is wonderful to have the GAAAAAAHDEN back!

I am glad Banknorth named it what it did but it was not a smart business decision IMO.

remember when it was going to be called the Shawmut Center ?

RAGTOP wrote:remember when it was going to be called the Shawmut Center ?

Yes and it took about 10 seconds before everyone was calling it "The Mut"

BottleofRum wrote:

parrothead338 wrote:

BottleofRum wrote:Sort of.....

The FleetCenter has a new name: TD BankNorth Garden.

The bank reached an agreement with arena owner Delaware North Cos. to put its name (TD BankNorth Garden) on the home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, the companies announced Thursday.

I put the over/under at 10 minutes before everyone in Boston is calling it "The Garden" again.

Well if you took the "under" then you would have won because everyone on WEEI was calling in right when the deal happened calling it THE GARDEN.

Boy it sure is wonderful to have the GAAAAAAHDEN back!

I am glad Banknorth named it what it did but it was not a smart business decision IMO.

I was listening the Dale + Holly today and they debated this for a long time. Dale thought it was a horrible business decision and Mike holly said it was a good one.

I think people will mostly call it the Garden BUT people will still know it is the Banknorth Garden and they will appretiate them for bringing the Graden back. I think the publicity for the bank in Boston will skyrocket because of this.

I bet a lot of people will refuse to call it the GAHDEN

When the Boston Garden was still standing most people called it "the Garden" when the Fleet Center was built it became know as "the Fleet" you can be sure people will be calling it "the Garden" again.

I am happy Banknort did what they did but it was a very bad business decision.

I can't get weei where I live but it is not suprising Holly and Dale disagree, if they both agreed there would be no talk radio so one of them HAS to take the other side.

BottleofRum wrote:When the Boston Garden was still standing most people called it "the Garden" when the Fleet Center was built it became know as "the Fleet" you can be sure people will be calling it "the Garden" again.

I am happy Banknort did what they did but it was a very bad business decision.

I can't get weei where I live but it is not suprising Holly and Dale disagree, if they both agreed there would be no talk radio so one of them HAS to take the other side.

WELL today is your lucky day... WEEI announced today they are once again going to stream their station LIVE online so you can listen whenever you want on your computer.

Boston's FleetCenter renamed TD Banknorth Garden
Thursday March 03, 2005
By MARK JEWELL
AP Business Writer

BOSTON (AP) The Boston Garden, a storied name that appeared consigned to the dustbin of sports history, was partially resurrected Thursday in a 20-year naming-rights deal assigning a new arena label in deference to modern marketing realities: TD Banknorth Garden.

But it's an open question whether that mouthful will catch on with local fans of the dearly departed Boston Garden.

``I won't use it, and I don't know that anybody will,'' Jeanne Cyr, a 64-year-old Cambridge retiree and self-described ``huge sports fan,'' said as she gazed at a huge banner that was unfurled on the building reading, ``Hello, my name is TD Banknorth Garden.''

Many locals never took a liking to FleetCenter, the name of the now decade-old building that replaced the Garden as home of the NBA's Boston Celtics and the NHL's Boston Bruins.

``I never did call it FleetCenter,'' Cyr said. ``It will always be, 'The Garden' ... but it should be spelled ``G-A-H-D-E-N, as in Boston Gah-den,'' she said in the local brogue that comes naturally to Cyr, a lifelong Boston area resident.

William J. Ryan, chairman, president and chief executive of Portland, Maine-based TD Banknorth Inc., acknowledged in an interview that some may drop the bank's name when referring to the arena. But he said the deal is still a worthwhile investment for his bank as it tries to expand its footprint and name recognition in the Boston area and southern New England.

By returning ``Garden'' to the arena name, ``We hope people will remember the company that allowed that to happen,'' Ryan said in an interview after the deal was announced on the floor of FleetCenter.

Jim Ackor, a banking industry analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said, ``Whatever Joe Lunchbox calls it, 'The Garden' or 'TD Banknorth Garden,' the name is going to be splashed over everything, and it's going to be impossible to avoid. It's really quite a coup for Banknorth.''

Financial terms of the naming-rights deal reached with arena owner Delaware North Cos. were not disclosed, but published reports citing anonymous sources familiar with the deal said TD Banknorth would pay between $5 million and $6 million per year.

Separately, the bank also has committed to invest more than $5 million in New England neighborhoods through the arena's foundation and the Boston Bruins Foundation, and another $8 million for improvements to the arena over the life of the deal, officials said. Delaware North also owns the NHL's Bruins.

Dan Migala, publisher of the Chicago-based sports marketing trade publication The Migala Report, said the charitable and arena improvement commitments along with the 20-year life of the contract could make it the single-biggest naming-rights deal ever for an indoor U.S. sports arena.

A naming-rights deal for Atlanta's Phillips Arena included annual naming-rights payments of $9 million, but included fewer add-ons than the Boston agreement, Migala said.

FleetCenter officials said they were pleased Banknorth chose to incorporate the Garden name.

``We couldn't be happier to find a partner that embraces the tradition of Boston sports history the way Banknorth does,'' arena president Richard Krezwick said.

The new name officially takes effect July 1.

Banknorth's Ryan said his goal was ``to bring the Garden feeling back to all of the people who remember it so well.''

The old Garden saw 16 Celtics NBA titles and five Bruins Stanley Cups.

The name TD Banknorth was created just last month, when shareholders in Banknorth Group Inc. approved the $4 billion deal that gave Canada's Toronto Dominion Bank a controlling stake in the Maine-based bank.

The arena deal ends the whimsical auction of daily naming rights on eBay that resulted in the building being named officially, if not in actual usage such things as the KurtCenter, the JoeyColinAbbyCenter and the Nocturnal Nannies Arena for 24-hour periods over the past month.

One New York lawyer's bid to name the arena for New York Yankees' star Derek Jeter was derailed after his friend chipped in and they agreed to name it the ``Jimmy Fund Center,'' after the Boston-based cancer charity.

The auctioning raised more than $150,000 for charity over three weeks.

The last of those auctions, for March 13 rights, ended Thursday.

Signs reflecting the the new TD Banknorth name will go up beginning in July. Once the auctioned naming rights conclude March 13, most arena signs will continue to carry the FleetCenter name temporarily, arena spokesman Jim Delaney said.

Opened in 1995 as a replacement to the dear but decrepit Boston Garden, the arena was originally to be named the Shawmut Center, for a local bank. But Shawmut was acquired by Fleet Bank before the building opened, resulting in the name FleetCenter.

Fleet later merged with BankBoston to become FleetBoston, which was acquired by Bank of America last year.

Bank of America and Delaware North nearly completed a deal that would have put the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's name on the building above Boston's North Station. The bank had test-marketed prospective arena names and measured for new signs, but a Bank of America spokesman said the deal collapsed when the company changed its marketing priorities and was unable to agree with Delaware North on financial terms.

Instead, Bank of America bought out the remaining six years of the 15-year, $30 million deal for a reported $3 million. That allowed the building to sell daily naming rights and seek a new long-term partner.

parrothead338 wrote:

BottleofRum wrote:When the Boston Garden was still standing most people called it "the Garden" when the Fleet Center was built it became know as "the Fleet" you can be sure people will be calling it "the Garden" again.

I am happy Banknort did what they did but it was a very bad business decision.

I can't get weei where I live but it is not suprising Holly and Dale disagree, if they both agreed there would be no talk radio so one of them HAS to take the other side.

WELL today is your lucky day... WEEI announced today they are once again going to stream their station LIVE online so you can listen whenever you want on your computer.

Really! That is awesome!! Ever since they stopped doing this a few years ago I emailed Jason Wolfe (program director) almost every week asking him to bring it back.. my prayers have been answered.

weirdo0521 wrote:I bet a lot of people will refuse to call it the GAHDEN

I'm drivin my caaahhh to the gahhden.....................to wahhhhhhtch some baahhhhhhksetbahhhlllllll...........