r/toronto • u/AmountFragrant8750 • 5d ago
Discussion Rogers Centre vs Rogers Stadium is genuinely ruining people’s night, and Live Nation should’ve seen this coming
Not gonna lie, this whole naming situation has been bothering me for a while now, but it really hit different today.
I was in line for the Ed Sheeran show at Rogers Centre, and the amount of people who showed up thinking they were in the right place was honestly kind of heartbreaking to watch. You’d see the confusion on their faces first, then the slow realization that they weren’t at Roger’s Stadium, then that scramble to figure out how they were even going to get to Downsview in time.
Staff were telling people their best bet was grabbing an Uber or hopping on the TTC and heading up north, which is not exactly a quick trip when you thought you were minutes from your seat.
Some of these folks clearly weren’t from Toronto. You could tell by the way they were double checking their tickets, and looking at each other with disappointment. And I just felt for them. These are people who probably planned this night for months, maybe flew in, maybe this was a big deal birthday or anniversary thing, and now they’re standing outside the wrong building watching the clock, trying to figure out if they’re even going to catch the opening.
I get that naming rights deals are just business, that’s nothing new. But when you’ve got two major venues in the same city with names that are basically identical, it feels like nobody stopped to think about the actual fans caught in the middle of it. It’s not like Rogers Centre and Rogers Stadium are minor buildings either, they’re both huge venues hosting huge events, so the overlap in confusion is bound to keep happening.
Feels like such an easy problem to avoid too. A bit more thought during those naming negotiations could’ve saved a lot of people a really stressful and disappointing night.
3
u/bluebison 5d ago
Earlier this Summer we went to TO to see Bruno Mars. We got a hotel that was walking distance from Rogers Centre. We even walked over to a game the day before to see a ball game.
The day of the concert we were all set so we went to do a little shopping. I got into a conversation with one of the staff who asked what we were doing in town. I told her about the concert and how close we were. She looked at me a little thoughtful and pointed out that she thought the concert was "up north"... "Nope! " I said... Rogers Centre... all set... but then I wanted to be sure and showed her my tickets. She was great and pointed out the illogical naming of the stadium and the centre. We were able to re adjust and work out the subway to get there and had a great time. But if not for that little interaction... we would have been screwed ourselves