Why Renaming The Mayo Civic Center Is A Dumb Idea
It’s been reported that the Rochester City Council is meeting tonight to discuss a potential name change from the Mayo Civic Center to the Rochester Convention and Events Center. I'm Jordan from Z-Rock 107-7, and I think this is a bad idea. According to the report, the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau is requesting this change because it will allegedly allow them to improve marketing the venue outside of Southeast Minnesota. The moment I read this news, I was perplexed. If you’re trying to make your venue look more attractive by changing its name, why would you make it even longer? And somehow even more boring and generic? And this is supposed to make the venue more desirable? If this change actually happens, here is a hypothetical sentence that I’m pretty sure a normal human being will never say out loud:
“Hey man, are you going to the show at the Rochester Convention and Events Center next month?”
No one will ever say that, I promise you.
I’ll admit that this is partly coming from a place of personal bias, as part of my job involves promoting concerts and events at the Mayo Civic Center. I’m already bristling at having to go on the air and say “Tickets go on sale this Friday at all Ticketmaster locations and the Rochester Convention and Events Center box office!” Please, no. Don’t make me say that sentence. Nothing about that name flows off the tongue. There’s no pizzazz. If you have to change the name, at least make it, you know, exciting.
Call it “The Mayo”.
Sell the naming rights and call it “The Snappy Stop Center” or something.
Even “The Med City Events Center” is better, and it took me 15 seconds to come up with that.
I don’t care what you call it; just don’t let it be “The Rochester Convention and Events Center.”
Because that name is super, super lame.
By the way, who else is excited that next year’s Super Bowl is taking place inside The Minneapolis Football Venue And Community Entertainment Complex? That’s going to be fun!
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