It is as silly as it sounds. An Ivy League school, has tons of money, home to THE iconic arena in college basketball. Sorry, Dookies, but this is so. And what does Penn do? It sells the naming rights to the court at the Palestra to an Australian investment firm named Macquarie.
A few things jump out. First, what the heck are the Aussies thinking? Who in the Palestra will care one iota about this naming event, except for those who are offended that Penn decided to sell the naming rights to a sacred place? Will anyone be influenced to park his nest egg with this group? If I were a shareholder of Macquarie, I'd grill the management team hard as to why they ponied up monies to name the court at the Palestra.
Second, it could be worse for Penn alums, Penn fans, hoop fans. Oh, yes it could be. Given that universities tend to name buildings after famous people, it could have been the case that a certain real estate conglomerate in New York wanted to pony up the bucks to name the facility after its organization or the 45th President of the United States. Think Trump Court at the Palestra. Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? That would not have been beyond the realm of the possibilities, even if the President probably has a popularity problem in University City. The possibilities there would be endless. Would recruits turn down the Quakers because of the naming rights? Would players want their teams to play Penn on the road so that they could take a knee during the national anthem?
The Palestra is iconic, classic, a great place to play and to watch a game. Why on earth did Penn go out and feel compelled to sell naming rights to the place? Even its rival Princeton, which seems to sell naming rights to everything too (and let former eBay CEO Meg Whitman pay a paltry $35 million or so to name a residential college after herself when it could have gotten more), named the basketball court at Jadwin Gym after legendary coach Pete Carril. So why couldn't Penn have gone that route and named the court after one of Dick Harter, Chuck Daly or Fran Dunphy?
The naming rights and commercialism surrounding all things sports remind me of a scene in the movie "Wall Street," which is an apropos reference because of Penn's highly regarded Wharton School of Business. There is one scene where Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) and Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) are talking, and Gekko says to Fox, "It's all about the bucks, kid."
Touche. Nothing more, nothing less.
It could have been Dunphy Court at the Palestra. Instead it is Macquarie Court at the Palestra. What's next, the Aeroflot Penn Relays?
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