First, it was Gund Arena. Then, in 2005, it became Quicken Loans Arena. Now, the home of the Cavaliers, formerly known as “The Q,” has been renamed Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, and Clevelanders have some opinions about that.
“It needs to be abbreviated, it's a little bit too long,” said Tiara Grayson, a longtime Cavs fan who was walking in downtown Cleveland a few blocks from the venue.
Down the street, Vicki King-Bryant shared a similar sentiment about the name, which is derived from Quicken Loans’ online subsidiary. “Rocket Mortgage something ... I think that's crazy!,” she said with a laugh. King-Bryant said she's a fan of the venue and goes to a lot of concerts there, although she's not a fan of the rebranding. “We’re still going to go, though.”
“Why fieldhouse?” said Rick Jenkins, who was passing by the FieldHouse as venue officials geared up for an event officially announcing the change. “That seems college-like. These are the pros.”
Inside, Cavs CEO Len Komoroski gave a short presentation and said that the new name comes with a multi-year extension of the partnership between Quicken Loans and the Cavaliers.
Dan Gilbert, who is chairman of both organizations, said he knows that there will be critics of the new name. But, he said, “After a time, there'll probably be some kind of short nickname that takes place naturally, and I think it'll fit in with Cleveland for a lot of reasons.” For example, he said, the “Rock” in Rocket Mortgage echoes the name of the nearby Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The FieldHouse is undergoing a $185 million renovation, and a little over a third of that is covered by public money in the form of admission taxes and bonds.
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