Re: I hate "naming rights"
One of the bodies you can blame for this trend (not solely, but a big influence) is the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the governments who pander to them when hosting the games.
The IOC bans advertising in any venue or venue-related facilities unless the advertiser has paid much cash to the IOC for the privilege of advertising at an Olympic event. Many hosting countries (well all really) pass laws enabling this.
One of the ways advertisers got around this was by having the actual facilities that hosted the games to be named after their organisations. That way, when a broadcaster says "Telstra stadium", they are not advertising Telstra - which would breach laws if Telstra hadn't paid the IOC millions of dollars - they are stating the name of a facility, not of a company.
I'm pretty sure that the various <insert name here> World Cups follow the same paradigm regarding advertising, thus boosting the silly trend of naming places/facilities after companies.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
