Cubs Park In Mesa Is Now 'Sloan Park'

When Cubs Park in Mesa, Arizona opened a year ago, many thought the Cubs would want a naming-rights agreement for the ballpark to provide additional revenue. And now, they have one:

#Cubs sign Sloan Valve for naming rights to spring training park in Mesa. 10+ years, 7 figures annually. Sloan 109-yr-old Chgo brand.

— Don Muret (@breakground) January 8, 2015

Sloan Park now official name of #Cubs spring training park. Sloan's flush valves at #Wrigley since park opened in 1914.

— Don Muret (@breakground) January 8, 2015

What this does to the marquee depicted above is unknown. Many fans enjoyed having their photo taken standing beside this marquee, which is located inside the park. The team didn't charge anything for those photos and I hope they continue that. It'll be a bit different standing next to something that says "Sloan Park," though.

I'm certainly glad that the Cubs are making this sort of money for a simple naming-rights deal in spring training. The tweets say "7 figures annually," so that means at least $1 million, but beyond that, I don't have any specific information on how much. Here's the company's website; they are based in suburban Franklin Park.

I've hesitated here making any comment on the actual product made by this company, but really, the jokes write themselves. I'm sure you'll have plenty of them in the comments.

Incidentally, this is the first naming-rights deal for any stadium in the Cactus League. There are several in Florida, including Bright House Field (Clearwater, Phillies), JetBlue Park at Fenway South (Red Sox, Ft. Myers) and Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (Dunedin, Blue Jays).