Title: Smirnoff arena to change name to accommodate kids' concert
Source: The Dallas Morning News
Source: Section: Domestic News
Date: April 28, 2001, Saturday
Author: Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Location: Dallas
Topic: News
On July 1, when thousands of frenzied youngsters descend on Fair Park to hear teen music sensation Aaron Carter, the Smirnoff Music Centre will no longer exist.
For 24 hours -- or as long as young Aaron performs -- the concert venue formerly known as Starplex will officially be called the Music Centre at Fair Park, or the Fair Park Music Centre. Or whatever else its managers decide.
When Smirnoff acquired the naming rights to Starplex last summer, paying $6 million to the private operators who run the city-owned facility, a little-known provision of the deal allowed the principals to remove the liquor name from promotions for any event scheduled there that was targeted toward youngsters.
Aaron, the 13-year-old baby brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, has a huge following among the preteen set.
"The Smirnoff Company didn't want its name associated with an event targeted at nonadults," said Larry Fontana, the Music Centre's general manager. "So as part of contract negotiations for the naming rights, they added a provision that allowed for a name change at nonadult events."
All television, radio and newspaper advertising for the concert will refer to the Smirnoff Music Centre by another name. The signs outside the amphitheater will not be changed, however.
Ronetta Briggs, a spokeswoman for Smirnoff's parent company, said the liquor maker never pitches its product to youngsters.
She said the naming contract dictates a temporary name change if 70 percent of an event's crowd is expected to be nonadults.
For the Aaron Carter concert, she said, "They can call it the Music Centre, or divert the name back to Starplex."
Officials said this was the first time the non-Smirnoff clause had been invoked since the liquor company acquired the naming rights last June.
When pop princess Britney Spears, who has a following slightly older than Aaron Carter's, played the venue last July, all promotions referred to the place as Smirnoff Music Centre.
Last summer, some southern Dallas residents and others criticized the notion of plastering a well-known liquor brand on a public facility -- especially one that attracts young crowds, and one located in a part of town where liquor stores and booze billboards already are plentiful.
Dallas City Council member Leo Chaney Jr., whose district includes the Music Centre, said the one-day name change was silly.
"The name of the center is still Smirnoff Music Centre," said Chaney, who opposed the name change last year.
Marvin Crenshaw, Chaney's opponent in the May 5 City Council election, agreed.
"Little children are not stupid," he said. "Just because you stop calling it that for one day doesn't mean the image won't be there."
Council member Veletta Forsythe Lill said: "I'm happy that they will change the name for one day. I'm sorry it won't be longer."
Chaney said he was furious last summer when the House of Blues Inc. and SFEntertainment Inc., the operators of the amphitheater under a deal with the city, announced the Smirnoff contract.
He persuaded Smirnoff's parent company to contribute $3.8 million to social improvement efforts in the South Dallas/Fair Park area.
The Music Centre, with a capacity of 20,000, was known as the Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre from its opening in 1988 until 1998.
