The power of Twitter caused a minor stir at UNC Charlotte late last week.
When Chiquita Brands International CEO Fernando Aguirre tweeted -- jokingly apparently -- that UNCC Chancellor Phil Dubois had started a rumor that the school’s new football stadium would be named for Chiquita, it got plenty of attention.
But it appears there are currently no plans that the 15,000-seat stadium’s naming rights -- worth $5 million to the school -- will go Chiquita, the international conglomerate that is relocating to Charlotte.
As Aguirre put it at the end of his tweet: LOL.
"Fernando had a great chance to visit with Chancellor Dubois last week and get a great tour of the UNC Charlotte campus,” Chiquita spokesman Andrew Ciafardini said in an email. ”He was very impressed. We are in the process of exploring some small partnerships with the Univeristy (including an IT internship program) but at this time there are no plans for any sort of naming rights or sporting sponsorships."
Aguirre visited the 49ers’ campus late last week. Afterward, Aguirre -- a frequent tweeter -- posted on this account (#fdoAguirreCEO):
“#UNCCharlotte building the #ChiquitaStadium ? Oh yes, Chancellor Dubois started the rumor. I thanked him already. LOL”
The #ChiquitaStadium “hashtag” drew some attention, with one 49ers fan inviting Aguirre to support the school’s football team, which begins play in 2013.
UNCC officials had no comment, but were not taking Aguirre’s tweet too seriously. One source said Dubois might have “mentioned” naming rights to Aguirre, but not in any kind of formal proposal.
Dubois and athletics director Judy Rose continued to pursue naming rights to the stadium, which will be finished this fall. The stadium’s field already has been named McColl-Richardson Field, in honor of local business and sports icons Hugh McColl and Jerry Richardson. They have donated a substantial amount toward the $2.5-million goal for field naming rights.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Chiquita Stadium? Not happening for 49ers
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27 comments:
We're in good hands for naming rights. FSLs are flying off the shelves
@3:09, I know you're being sarcastic, but I have no worries about FSL's selling out or the stadium getting named.
I'm a huge 49er fan and even I haven't bought FSLs yet. I plan to, but I just never saw the urgency to do so right away. I'm sure there are a lot of others out there that are the same.
US Gypsum Stadium.
I want to give Dick Spangler a stroke.
I'm pretty sure Big Lots, Aldi, and Family Dollar are still in the mix for naming rights...lol..what a joke.
I will be making my 4th FSL payment in a month.
Students are now in their second year of their student fee.
How is Judy doing on the capital campaign? Do a group of alumni need to get together to do her job for her again?
"I will be making my 4th FSL payment in a month.
Students are now in their second year of their student fee.
How is Judy doing on the capital campaign? Do a group of alumni need to get together to do her job for her again?"
Also, we still have not heard a dollar amount that was donated by Richardson- McColl.
It's strange, but if Chiquita paid for UNCCs stadium wouldn't that really be the city of Charlotte's money, considering Chiquita paid nothing to come here.
Charlotte's College football program and it's stadium has a chance to be the Top Banana in town. So why let this opportunity slip away? With the extra money stadium rights could present, if Chiquita came calling, the opportunity would be quite appealing.
""It's strange, but if Chiquita paid for UNCCs stadium wouldn't that really be the city of Charlotte's money"
Richardson has enough money to contribute to UNCC, but yet he'll have his hand out when they approach the city about renovating Panther Stadium.
Hmmm...Panthers or 49'ers...tough decision. Panthers have Cam Newton...UNCC will not have a winning program for 15 years...see Duke football...lol..
Silly? Well, it is sports. But, think about it; 49ers-gold, bananas-yellow, and can you hear the crowd at kick-off?
"Day-oh! Day-ay-ay-oh!"
Not really any sillier than singing "Sweet Caroline". But then, Chiquita may just be waiting for Moynihan to pack up BofA and high-tail it North, leaving an NFL stadium's naming rights open.
Day-oh!
Here's probably how the conversation went:
Dubious: for $5 million bananas you can name the new football stadium Chiquita and for another $1 million will sell nothing but bananas at the concession stands...
CEO: nah, but thanks for the offer. LOL
Here's an idea: how about naming the stadium for the students whose back the stadium is being built on. Nevermind that the campus barely supports the basketball team. Nevermind that not even chapel hill can sport a successful division I team. The stadium, the football team, all the new construction is all about Dubois and his legacy. Make the campus pretty while the core academics rot away. Go niners!!!
5:22 - We will be good enough to lay a Stanford-type smackdown on Duke in 2 years, if not in year 1. We'll be in the FCS playoffs in 2015 - see Old Dominion football. You are the joke.
As for Chiquita, they should buy naming rights to the US Capital, since a group of 535 untrained monkeys could do a better job of running the country than the slime that is there now.
Regarding the comment about not supporting their basketball team, they are still 63rd in attendance put of almost 340 D1 teams. That's not too bad considering how bad the team has been in recent years.
Chiquita Stadium isnt happening at UNC Charlotte? Huh?
Very confusing for the UNC system and others. So if all sports at UNC Charlotte are supposed to be separated and called Charlotte only without the UNC ( too funny ) then how could Chiquita Stadium and UNC Charlotte even be in the same sentence unless it is impossible to logically and intelligently split the two?
Shouldnt it be Chiquita Stadium isnt happening at Charlotte only since you are talking sports only?
Rose's idiot solution to end the so called confusion between the UNCC and UNCCH names (yea rite) presents a lot of semantic complexities to overcome doent it so get it right next time.
Not only does Rose make UNCC look frivilous but pretty stupid and lame too with this musical chairs name change thing.
The UNC system should make it a rule that all 16 UNC system schools be required to use their city names only for sports only to keep everything noncongruent and confusing.
Wow, I posted these ideas on another article a month ago about BoA selling their building...glad to see people are reading them.
Judy Rose is a derelict of truly epic proprortion, but the blind squirrell found a nut when we dropped the UNCC from sports. "Charlotte" in the natl publications looks much better.
Stop with the complaints about dropping the "UNC" for athletics. If that confused you, you must be really easily confused. If it angered you, then you must be just looking for stuff to be angry about. Get over it, move on, and beat some other dead horse. May I suggest the Lutz firing, the relative academic standing of UNC Charlotte, or Judy Rose's fashion sense?
Hey Mike P, I thought the Observer never penned stories on "rumors".
Here is a story that was based on a friggin twitter hashtag.
We await a story on Charlotte being invited into the new CUSA/MVC Conference.
I guess you are too busy sending reporters 2.5 hours away to cover the hometown team, your beloved blue fairys.
I hope people who get confused between Charlotte and UNCC wind up going to a triangle school. Youre obviously not Charlotte material.
UNCC's football team? Didn't know they had one...Good to know. Hopefully they'll be better than their basketball team...Lol....What a joke!
Thanks as usual to everyone commenting for supporting 49er football! The only joke here is the clowns who take time out of their day to come here and post about a program they claim to care nothing about. LOL!
Posting "what a joke" over and over. What a joke!
I don't care what it gets called. As long as there is football at Charlotte, it will be AWESOME!
If they do get naming rights they need to give away free banana daiquiris at the games!
My guess is those posting anti Niner comments never went to college, they are fans of Duke or unc-chapel hill (their official name), and they have never attended one of "their" school's games in person. Plus, they have a big chip on their shoulder and feel it necessary to stupidly criticize programs other than "their own".
if @FdoAguirreCEO want to laugh @unccfootball he can stick a banana up his keister #monkeydildos...lol
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