What's in a name?

Naming rights deals have long been a staple of the sports world. You've got arenas and stadiums bearing the names of airlines, stock-brokers, power companies, shipping companies, banks, brewers, and phone companies. In Houston, Enron Field magically became Minute Maid Park when the former self-destructed a couple of years ago. The newest device is naming the field or court for one entity and the building for another.

Of course, it's all about the money. If that offends your sensibilities, just get out, now. It simply isn't going to change. As budgets tighten, the demand for new revenue streams has nowhere to go but up. Colleges have been naming buildings for people for years. (You know you're getting old when you go back to your old campus and the buildings are named for people you actually knew.) At first, the names on the buildings belonged to famous alumni or beloved old faculty members. Then wealthy alumni got into the act, buying their way onto the facades of higher learning.

Now comes word that George Mason High School in Falls Church, VA, has sold the naming rights to its football stadium to a local automobile dealership. When all the t's are crossed and all the i's dotted, the George Mason Mustangs will be playing their home games at Moore Cadillac Stadium. (A Ford dealership would have made more sense.)

Apparently this move had been discussed for several years. George Mason wanted to install new stadium lighting, but the $120,000 cost would have broken the bank. Enter Moore Cadillac with $50,000 in hand (for a five-year contract) and, all of a sudden, night games were back on the agenda.

We don't see anything wrong with that. High schools have long had ads on their scoreboards and outfield fences. In fact, one aspect of Moore's deal is the installation of three of its logos in the stadium. It appears to be a no harm, no foul way to help the local athletic program.

But we do have a few concerns. First, school boards are incredibly political. We'd hate to see athletic departments embroiled in controversy because board members were battling over sports venue naming rights.

Second, let's avoid the temptation to over-commercialize high school sports. Everyone accepts NASCAR's logo-plastered cars and drivers. Boxers' sponsors expect their names on their man's shorts. So do tennis sponsors. Then Bob Knight took things to the next level when he added O'Reilly Auto Parts' logo to his Texas Tech sweater. If that's the future of high school sports, we're dead set against it.

Finally, are there limits in what can be sold to sponsors? Several years ago, Glassboro State University in New Jersey, site of a famous meeting between Soviet leader Nikita Kruschchev and then President Lyndon Johnson, became Rowan University. The Rowan family donated enough money that the state-run institution was even willing to change its name. That's a dangerous precedent.

We enjoy watching corporate battles. But the thought of Nike High School playing this week's big game against Reebok High is unthinkable.