Same stadium, new name: Why World Cup venues are getting rebranded for the tournament

By ANNE M. PETERSON, AP Soccer Writer

The stadiums that will host World Cup matches are removing all traces of their usual corporate sponsors in anticipation of the tournament that starts next week.

At AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, workers on Tuesday continued the process of covering the “AT&T” on the stadium’s facade. The work began last week.

The reason? AT&T, and the other stadium sponsors at World Cup venues, are not FIFA sponsors, which are guaranteed exclusive rights during the tournament that runs through July 19.

As a result, most of the 16 host stadiums are being rebranded with generic city names. AT&T Stadium will be called Dallas Stadium.

In Seattle, black banners were hung to cover the “Lumen” name at Lumen Field. The home of the NFL’s Seahawks is now going by the name Seattle Stadium. Even Latin America’s largest soccer stadium, the iconic Banorte Stadium in Mexico, has been temporarily renamed Mexico City Stadium.

An exception is BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is owned by the government, so it’s called BC Place Vancouver.

Other stadiums and their World Cup monikers include: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which will be called New York New Jersey Stadium, and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, renamed San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.

FIFA allowed the massive Mercedes Benz logo atop the Atlanta Falcons stadium in Georgia to remain because it was determined that removing it could cause structural damage to the retractable roof.

But the large, round logos on the sides of the building were covered in April, and the venue will be called Atlanta Stadium this summer.

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