vex
05-07-2004, 12:30 PM
Friday, May 7, 2004
Associated Press
<!-- template inline --><!-- insertinlineAd -->ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas Rangers (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=tex) fans won't be hearing about The Ballpark in Arlington much longer because the team's home is reportedly getting a new name.
<!-- BEGIN INLINE UNIT -->
<!-- END INLINE UNIT -->The venue is Ameriquest Field in Arlington, carrying the name of Ameriquest Mortgage Corp. after the Rangers sold renaming rights to the subsidiary of Ameriquest Capital Corp.
The deal, according to published reports Friday, was expected to be for 30 years and bring in about $75 million.
More details were expected to be released at a news conference the Rangers scheduled for noon Friday.
"All I can say is that we will have a press conference today to announce a major sponsorship agreement," Rangers vice president John Blake told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Friday's editions.
The baseball team has been negotiating with the California-based lender since at least February.
The agreement is "like the worst-kept secret in the sports world," David Carter, a principal in Los Angeles' Sports Business Group, told The Dallas Morning News.
Rangers owner Tom Hicks had reportedly been trying to find a company that would purchase naming rights for The Ballpark since his Southwest Sports Group bought the team, plus land near the stadium, for $250 million in 1998.
The previous Rangers ownership group, headed by George W. Bush and Rusty Rose, negotiated the right to sell the name of the ballpark when the organization and the city of Arlington teamed up to build the stadium.
A subprime lending company, Ameriquest Mortgage, has 17 banking sites in Texas, including seven in the Dallas area.
So how about a name more fitting for a team in the Lone Star State?
"It could be worse. He's [Hicks] got to make money somewhere," said Rangers fan Sue Heath of Oak Lawn. "I'm surprised he didn't get somebody bigger, more Texan."
Ameriquest, which has been using Major League Baseball increasingly as a marketing vehicle, is sponsoring voting for this year's All-Star Game in stadiums and online.
hxxp://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1796968
Associated Press
<!-- template inline --><!-- insertinlineAd -->ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas Rangers (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=tex) fans won't be hearing about The Ballpark in Arlington much longer because the team's home is reportedly getting a new name.
<!-- BEGIN INLINE UNIT -->
<!-- END INLINE UNIT -->The venue is Ameriquest Field in Arlington, carrying the name of Ameriquest Mortgage Corp. after the Rangers sold renaming rights to the subsidiary of Ameriquest Capital Corp.
The deal, according to published reports Friday, was expected to be for 30 years and bring in about $75 million.
More details were expected to be released at a news conference the Rangers scheduled for noon Friday.
"All I can say is that we will have a press conference today to announce a major sponsorship agreement," Rangers vice president John Blake told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Friday's editions.
The baseball team has been negotiating with the California-based lender since at least February.
The agreement is "like the worst-kept secret in the sports world," David Carter, a principal in Los Angeles' Sports Business Group, told The Dallas Morning News.
Rangers owner Tom Hicks had reportedly been trying to find a company that would purchase naming rights for The Ballpark since his Southwest Sports Group bought the team, plus land near the stadium, for $250 million in 1998.
The previous Rangers ownership group, headed by George W. Bush and Rusty Rose, negotiated the right to sell the name of the ballpark when the organization and the city of Arlington teamed up to build the stadium.
A subprime lending company, Ameriquest Mortgage, has 17 banking sites in Texas, including seven in the Dallas area.
So how about a name more fitting for a team in the Lone Star State?
"It could be worse. He's [Hicks] got to make money somewhere," said Rangers fan Sue Heath of Oak Lawn. "I'm surprised he didn't get somebody bigger, more Texan."
Ameriquest, which has been using Major League Baseball increasingly as a marketing vehicle, is sponsoring voting for this year's All-Star Game in stadiums and online.
hxxp://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1796968