Shocking Name Change Coming for Major Upstate New York Sports Venue

Since the early 1980's, it was understood that this prominent Upstate New York sports venue had one name, and one name only. The name would exist under a "lifetime contract", and would continue to be synonymous with the venue itself.

As announced late last week, however, that era is about to come to an unexpected end, and fans in the area are pretty shocked.

Get our free mobile app

Syracuse's Carrier Dome Undergoing Naming Rights Change

As reported by Syracuse.com on Friday of last week, Syracuse University's famous sports and entertainment venue, The Carrier Dome, will be undergoing a naming rights change in the near future.

Though no official date has been announced for the official name change, one would have to imagine that the change would be implemented for the 2022-23 school year.

Carrier Global, a home appliances company, agreed to their naming rights deal with the university in 1979, a revolutionary contract at the time considering that no university had sold the naming rights of their venues at that point. The company made a generous donation to the university at the time of the Dome's construction, and the two sides have been in a naming rights relationship ever since.

As explained by the Syracuse.com article, however, the deal has caused a bit of strife between the two sides. Because there was no precedent for how much a company should be paying the the naming rights of a prominent college sports venue, the deal has grown increasingly costly for the university, which could surely make more money from a refreshed contract.

As it turns out, that's exactly what has happened.

The company that has entered into a new agreement with the university is JMA Wireless, a company that builds next-generation communication systems. JMA is rumored to be working with Syracuse University in their plan to update and modernize the Dome during the summer, with renovations and additions totaling $20 million.

Carrier will still reportedly have advertising placed within the venue in the future, as well.

Naming Rights Change Coming as Part of Major Renovations

As we wrote about in previous weeks, Syracuse University recently secured $20 million from New York State to assist with the modernization of The Carrier Dome. A recreational facility is being attached to the venue itself, which will be open to Onandaga County groups and high school teams for meetings and practices.

The major upgrade, however, will be the installation of state-of-the-art 5G technology, allowing spectators at games and concerts to access the best high-speed data for their phones and mobile devices. JMA Wireless is reported to be the company designing this technology for Syracuse.

Former Syracuse athletic director, Daryl Gross, worked as a consultant for JMA Wireless while he was employed at Syracuse, and remained with the company after his dismissal. Gross recently entered litigation with the company after a project with Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium led to a contract dispute.