One of the biggest beefs I have with stadium names during the last 20-plus years is that unless you live in a market, you don’t know where [insert company name] Field is. Even then, plenty of us still call venues by their original names.
Raise your hand if you still call what’s now Crypto-dot-com (purposely spelled out) Arena, Staples?
The World Cup’s “clean venue” rules stripped sponsor names from stadiums and replaced them with host city tags during the tournament. On paper, it might have looked like a solution for helping people identify stadiums. In reality, it created a different challenge.
For instance, do you remember every host city where World Cup 2026 was played?
Stadium names were once true brand IDs
Years ago, you immediately knew venues like Candlestick Park, Comiskey Park, Fulton County Stadium, the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. We knew where college bowl games were played because they didn’t change title sponsors every few years. That’s a tougher game today.
Ironically, some companies whose names disappeared from stadiums during World Cup probably earned more brand attention than if their logos stayed put. Levi’s is the best example.
While Mercedes-Benz Stadium became Atlanta Stadium and SoFi Stadium became Los Angeles Stadium, Levi’s took a different approach. Instead of quietly accepting that its name would disappear from the San Francisco stadium, it got creative. Maybe without realizing it.
When the company covered the Levi’s Stadium sign with white fabric, all I could see was a giant pair of tighty-whities. I giggled. Others saw different things. It took mere seconds for the cover-up to become a meme.
When branding throws you a curve, take advantage of it and generate publicity.
The cover generated conversation that likely wouldn’t have happened during a typical summer. People talked about the hidden sponsor almost as much as the soccer.
Sometimes the best publicity comes from something you didn’t plan. It happens when you recognize an unexpected opening and turn what looks like a limitation into an advantage.
PR SIDEeffect – We spend a lot of time ensuring our marketing and publicity look and feel consistent across every media platform. That’s not wrong. But sometimes an unexpected opportunity comes along that warrants a creative detour. Levi’s couldn’t show its logo, so it gave people something to talk about. Sometimes the thing you hide becomes the thing people remember. We know that’s the case in crisis communications. This time a cover-up created good publicity.
©2026 Gail Sideman; gpublicity.com; SIDEbar
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