Conseco Fieldhouse is Now...Bankers Life Fieldhouse

[BBTV]

BOS - Boston Garden

People can try to reminisce and call the new building "The Garden", but it's not. The Garden had overhanging balconies, press boxes that located almost directly over team benches, court-level scoreboards, obstructed view seats, and the stench of urine in the hallways.

The new arena has none of that. Granted, times change, and our level of hygiene has evolved as well, but the new building is the same cookie-cutter type arena as other cities around the country at the time. As techno-friendly as it is, filled with modern amenities, it's not "The Garden", and never will be.

I still call it FleetCenter, it's the first name that comes to my mind.

When it was opened in 1996, it was supposed to be called the Shawmut Center. Shawmut bank of Boston was bought out by Fleet Bank of Boston/Providence.

In 2004, Fleet merged with Bank of America. But BOA didn't want the naming rights to the building, probably due to other non-sports buildings around the country named Bank of America Center, or BOA Stadium in Charlotte. So the rights went to TD Banknorth.

TD Banknorth Garden was a clunky name, no matter how much the company was happy it brought the "Garden" name back. Eventually it was shorted to TD Garden.

The TD Banknorth Garden was also similar ti the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando (the O-Rena).

Either way, since opening in 1996, the building has has 2 1/2 names. But I still call it by the original one without even thinking.

Only 2.5? Ours in Philly has had four different names since opening in 1996: CoreStates Center, First Union Center (1998), Wachovia Center (2003) and Wells Fargo Center (2010)

Not only that, but it was technically "Spectrum II" up until they sold out to CoreStates (I think that was a real name, not just a temporary working name, and had they not sold out it would have been called that.)

I'm not sure what I dislike more - the revolving door of names, or the fact that it's the "Wells Fargo Center - a Comcast Venue at the Comcast Complex" (which was even worse when the Spectrum was still standing and had both the Bank and Comcast's logo on it.)

Now, the "Philly Live" complex which is replacing the Spectrum has been renamed to Xfinity Live! W.T.F. Between Comcast, Wells Fargo, Citizens Bank (which could be renamed to RBC Citizens Park at any time), Lincoln Financial, it should just be called the Corporate Complex. It's disgusting. I also hate that there's a subset of people who refer to it as "the Big House", which I'm thankful never caught on (probably because the Spectrum, which I assume would be the "little house", is gone.)

Certainly the Spectrum isn't the Boston Garden, but it did have it's own character and hosted some pretty memorable events, so while the new place is certainly more "comfortable", I know what you're saying Slapshot about losing a place like that. I'm not sure I'd trade back, but there is certainly a feeling that is gone that will never be felt in the new place.

[Sport]

You can't manufacture character in new buildings. Example: Phillips Arena in Atlanta put all the boxes on the same side. Why? To be different, quirky for the sake of quirky? In the past if that happened it was out of necessity and then it became a trademark of the arena/stadium. Character like the Boston Garden, like Maple Leafs Garden, has to evolve naturally. I'm sure in 50 years there will be some arenas that we look at with fond memories as they tear them down to build a new 21st century state of the art floating seat sports-plex.

[crashcarson15]

Well, downtown Indy's already in the midst of a major renovation...what more would it be to change all the signage on the Fieldhouse?

You could say that again. Hell, the logo for the Super Bowl should've just been an orange cone with "XLVI" on it.

Well, to be fair, INDOT is almost done with that whole "Accelerate 465" project--they've finished up the stretch of westside 465 from I-70 upt to I-74...now they just gotta finish up from 74 up to the 865 junction. And on another note, have you seen what else is going on on the beltway? They're putting up travel time signs and the whole nine...they are REALLY trying to blow Indy up. Though, I still don't understand the purpose of the city tearing up Georgia Avenue downtown to do what they did to it...not understanding the purpose of that...whatever it is.

(And since we're talking construction, and only because I know about it...you Indy-area denizens might do well to know that SR-37 from just south of 465 on down to Evansville is soon due to be redesignated as--wait for it--I-69. INDOT's already busy at work rebuilding the rest of the highway down south Indiana.)

Okay, now back to the Fieldhouse discussion...

Well, it seems like every other street downtown is under construction too. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see when those signs start working though. Also, no :censored:ing clue why they did that down at Georgia Street. Hell, on the north side, every stop sign's gonna be a roundabout soon enough. Gotta deal with orange barrels up here too.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes 'em to get the I-69 project done down south. And wait for them to renumber the exits here north of 465. That'll be fun to relearn.

I do not know what that's about, either. I do know there was much vehement discussion about that over on the city-data.com forums (for those of you who know about those), particularly the one they're planning on putting dead in the middle of Carmel on US-31. Maybe someone just likes the idea of a giant circle in the middle of their town...but the thing is, 67-foot-long combo vehiclesI have difficulty fitting through those, and until more people learn the correct way to negotiate a traffic circle to begin with (and folk in Indiana already can't drive worth a s***--I'm sorry, but they can't), I see that, any any/every other circle as being a set-up for failure i.e. recipe for disaster.

As for downtown...I know they're doing a lot of what they're doing down there and around the city in advance of/because of the Super Bowl, but if they don't hurry it up, Indianapolis will never see another Super Bowl again, I don't care how many solid-glass JW Marriotts they build down by the Canal District, or anywhere else in downtown, for that matter. They're currently in the process of tearing up Delaware Street, which, as you know, north of South Street fronts one side of, or rather, runs across the back of, Conseco Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It's also a primary way into downtown for those coming from the south side via 31/East/Madison (like me). I guess Indy should be thankful that aside from the monument (which I believe they're done doing whatever they were doing to that now), most of what there is to see in downtown Indy is over in the southwest quad, away from most of the construction. (Of course, most of the clubs/bars are right there one street away from Lucas Oil on Meridian, which itself is one street over from the aforementioned Delaware Street, and folk WILL find their way over there.) For as much as a "cosmopolitan crown jewel" Mitchy-Poo n' em (Gov. Daniels) not to mention the new city mayor are trying to tout the city of Indianapolis as, I'm sure the last image of the city they want burned into anyone's heads is orange barrels to the left, orange barrels to the doggone right.

And to bring this back around to the re-named Fieldhouse, at least that new logo CWx posted above matches the color of the interior now. (For those who've never been inside there, it really is a very nice building, pretty fun to run around and get lost in during Brigade PT, as well.)

We had one of our basketball coaches and kid of the head of school slide out into a truck of some sort in one of those damned roundabouts the one time we got snow this year, and he completely totaled his car. When I finally decide I want to drive, I'm not looking forward to them in the snow. (Although, they DO keep traffic moving, which is nice).

They are done doing everything to the monument, I believe, and I think the orange barrels are done there... or are they? Haven't been down to the circle for a little while. But that's exactly what everyone's going to bitch about probably when they're here in Indy. Well, that plus it's Indianapolis. As the typical incompetence of this city/state would indicate, they're not going to be able to get all of this done before the Super Bowl. (Seems they ALWAYS decide to tear up Crawfordsville Road there or something else on the west side right before the 500 every year. Hell, the mess over there this year meant it took people 2-3 hours to get from MLK to Georgetown on 16th Street. All while the VIPs just flew down the VIP lane).

But yeah, it's a pretty cool building (and I'm hoping I'll be watching my school down there in the state title game this year, especially since I'm the student section captain and team statistician )

[-kj]

I still call it FleetCenter, it's the first name that comes to my mind.

...which makes me think of the "Fleet Suppositories Center".

[dfwabel]

Bankers Life is one of those companies that calls you whenever you sign up for CareerBuilder et al., and then tries to hector you into some seminar about how to sell life insurance to old people. This is basically as bad as the Arco Arena being renamed for magic bracelets.

Maybe not for long.

The company buying bankrupt Power Balance LLC is talking with the Sacramento Kings about keeping the sports wristband marketer's name on the Kings' arena.

But there's no guarantee a deal will get done, and the strange naming-rights saga of Power Balance Pavilion remains unresolved just days before the start of the NBA regular season.

It's still possible the Power Balance name could disappear from the building.

A source close to the situation said Wednesday that Hanyang LLC, an obscure Southern California company that's set to buy Power Balance, is talking to the Kings "about a new type of lease." The source refused to be quoted by name because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter.

[The_Admiral]

Not only that, but it was technically "Spectrum II" up until they sold out to CoreStates (I think that was a real name, not just a temporary working name, and had they not sold out it would have been called that.)

I'm not sure what I dislike more - the revolving door of names, or the fact that it's the "Wells Fargo Center - a Comcast Venue at the Comcast Complex" (which was even worse when the Spectrum was still standing and had both the Bank and Comcast's logo on it.)

Now, the "Philly Live" complex which is replacing the Spectrum has been renamed to Xfinity Live! W.T.F. Between Comcast, Wells Fargo, Citizens Bank (which could be renamed to RBC Citizens Park at any time), Lincoln Financial, it should just be called the Corporate Complex. It's disgusting. I also hate that there's a subset of people who refer to it as "the Big House", which I'm thankful never caught on (probably because the Spectrum, which I assume would be the "little house", is gone.)

Certainly the Spectrum isn't the Boston Garden, but it did have it's own character and hosted some pretty memorable events, so while the new place is certainly more "comfortable", I know what you're saying Slapshot about losing a place like that. I'm not sure I'd trade back, but there is certainly a feeling that is gone that will never be felt in the new place.

In the vein of renaming the FleetCenter the TD Garden, would you get on board with "Xfinity Spectrum" as a terminal name for the place where the Flyers and 76ers play? "The Big House" is stupid. I've never even thought of it as being that big, or distinguishing in any architectural regard.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Threads like this just remind me how much the Boomers ruined everything.

[zpqmaowl]

Pacers' TV play-by-play announcer Chris Denari said Consec--Bankers Life Fieldhouse tonight.

[BBTV]

Not only that, but it was technically "Spectrum II" up until they sold out to CoreStates (I think that was a real name, not just a temporary working name, and had they not sold out it would have been called that.)

I'm not sure what I dislike more - the revolving door of names, or the fact that it's the "Wells Fargo Center - a Comcast Venue at the Comcast Complex" (which was even worse when the Spectrum was still standing and had both the Bank and Comcast's logo on it.)

Now, the "Philly Live" complex which is replacing the Spectrum has been renamed to Xfinity Live! W.T.F. Between Comcast, Wells Fargo, Citizens Bank (which could be renamed to RBC Citizens Park at any time), Lincoln Financial, it should just be called the Corporate Complex. It's disgusting. I also hate that there's a subset of people who refer to it as "the Big House", which I'm thankful never caught on (probably because the Spectrum, which I assume would be the "little house", is gone.)

Certainly the Spectrum isn't the Boston Garden, but it did have it's own character and hosted some pretty memorable events, so while the new place is certainly more "comfortable", I know what you're saying Slapshot about losing a place like that. I'm not sure I'd trade back, but there is certainly a feeling that is gone that will never be felt in the new place.

In the vein of renaming the FleetCenter the TD Garden, would you get on board with "Xfinity Spectrum" as a terminal name for the place where the Flyers and 76ers play? "The Big House" is stupid. I've never even thought of it as being that big, or distinguishing in any architectural regard.

Well they actually did that. The Spectrum was actually the CoreStates / FU / Wachovia / Wells Fargo Sprctrum up until the end. Things like that aren't really a big deal, because people can still refer to it by it's "real" name without being defiant, but that's also the exact reason why it wouldn't happen with a modern venue (TD Garden being a rare exception.) For the new building, I wouldn't be on board with that because it's not the Spectrum. It should have its own name. I just wish there were options for arenas other than "X Center" these days.

The Big House thing was dumb, because I always think of that as a nickname for Michigan's football stadium. You're right, there's nothing really distinguishing about it (anymore - it was pretty sweet when it was first built). It only made sense because it was right next to the Spectrum, which was a way smaller structure, and was a nick name that wouldn't have to change because of a sponsor.