Entertainment venue gets new name
[EMAIL="stady@timesonline.com"]By: Scott Tady[/EMAIL]
Beaver County Times
Monday February 8, 2010 07:42 PM
BURGETTSTOWN — Well, it’s not as if people ever called it Post-Gazette Pavilion much anyway.
Maybe local concertgoers will take a greater shine to First Niagara Pavilion, which was announced Monday as the new name for the Burgettstown amphitheater formerly — and still commonly — known as Star Lake.
“As First Niagara expands here in western Pennsylvania, we are delighted to assist in providing the people in our market with world-class entertainment,” said Todd Moules, regional president of the banking company, which operates 171 branches across western Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
Terms of the multiyear deal, which were not revealed, give First Niagara the chance to offer special ticket promotions for customers as well as extra brand visibility via signs on highways such as Interstate 376 and Route 22.
Los Angeles-based Live Nation owns the 23,100-seat venue, which opened in 1990 as Star Lake Amphitheatre, shortly after that becoming Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheatre. In 2000, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette acquired the naming rights via a deal that recently expired. The Pittsburgh paper chose not to renew the deal, which might be a trend for newspapers. Almost exactly a year ago, the Cleveland Plain Dealer relinquished its naming rights for a concert venue since renamed the Nautica Pavilion.
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Of course, buying naming rights doesn’t guarantee that the general public will embrace the new name.
People adapted relatively easily when the Civic Arena became Mellon Arena, and the I.C. Light Amphitheatre became Chevrolet Amphitheatre and then the Amphitheatre at Station Square. But for some reason, concertgoers clung stubbornly to the “Star Lake” name.
“It’s been Star Lake; it’ll always be Star Lake,” said Beaver County rocker Brad Meredith, who’s performed as part of the preconcert entertainment on the VIP patio of the Burgettstown venue. “Just like Wal-Mart Plaza will always be Gee Bee Plaza, and Route 60 will always be Route 60.”