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Would you believe me that in a few years Lambeau Field might have a corporate name? Has sports gone down the corporate toilet? Read on or use this LINK :

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A July 15 meeting is expected to take place between the Green Bay Packers and city officials to discuss a potential naming-rights deal for Lambeau Field.

"The citizens of this county voted to sell naming rights, and we owe it to citizens to go through that process," Green Bay Mayor James J. Schmitt told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, citing an advisory referendum held more than two-and-a-half years ago in which Brown County (Wis.) residents voted in favor of selling the stadium name.

Selling the rights to the name "Lambeau Field" means additional money to shorten the life of a 0.5 percent county sales tax that is paying for a portion of the $295.2 million Lambeau Field redevelopment project. The project is expected to be finished in time for the 2003 season.

For the Packers, selling the naming rights is at odds with what the redevelopment plan is supposed to be about: preserving the legacy of city-owned Lambeau Field.

An agreement between the Packers and the City of Green Bay says the two sides must work together to sell the naming rights. The naming rights, if they were to be sold, would only be for the name of the stadium.

According to that agreement, proceeds of a naming-rights deal would be shared equally between the city and the Packers. From the city's share, 45 percent would be used to retire debt on the stadium; 5 percent would be used for Lambeau Field improvements.

The initial agreement called for the highest bidder to be awarded the naming rights unless no bid exceeded $120 million. If no sale resulted from the first request for proposals, the city was given the right to repeat the process no more than 30 months later, with a minimum bid value of $100 million. The Packers have since agreed to sell the rights if only the $100 million goal is reached.

But the possibility of reaching $100 million appears remote. Officials representing the city and the Packers say they can discern no interest from companies, either locally or nationally.

This week, the Philadelphia Phillies, playing in a market much larger than Green Bay, signed a naming rights deal with Citizens Bank for its new stadium.

Under the terms of the deal, Citizens Bank bought the naming rights and an advertising package from the team for $95 million.

An advisory committee of the City Council has proposed a plan in which the city itself would solicit companies for naming rights. But Schmitt said that wouldn't work, and a more orderly process or strategy must be used.

"We're not going to get $100 million sending out postcards," he said. "We have to work with the Packers."