It might not be long before you see Raider logos at the Oakland Coliseum depicting that bespectacled "Can you hear me now?" guy from Verizon commercials. The Raiders are reportedly in talks with Verizon to sell them the naming rights to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for the next five years.
Legendary gumshoe reporters Matier & Ross broke the story in their Sunday column in the San Francisco Chronicle, reporting that "Phone giant Verizon Wireless is in the final stages of a five-year, multimillion-dollar naming rights deal for the A's and Raiders' home field."
Financial terms are not available, but Matier & Ross' reporting indicates the deal could become official this week.
The name would also remain in effect for Oakland A's games, but I'm not sure how much longer A's home games will be played at the Oakland Coliseum.
This deal would not affect the name of the Golden State Warriors' next-door Oracle Arena, which will continue to have that name until at least 2016.
Raider fans may have gotten used to the luxury of not having some corporate name slapped on their stadium, as their Coliseum has been the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum since the McAfee Coliseum naming right deal ran out in 2007.
But in today's NFL, unless you want to pay $60 for a pizza, your going to have to tolerate a corporate name on your stadium to finance the team's megabucks operation.
Sports
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who wishes they would sell the naming rights to Your Black Muslim Bakery.
