Portland's Rose Garden is no more
PORTLAND (KPTV) -- The home of the Portland Trail Blazers is now named Moda Center. Moda Health, which bought the naming rights, is a Northwest-based health insurance company.
The Blazers worked for months to sell the naming rights and President Chris McGowan announced the name change at a news conference Tuesday.
The financial terms of the 10-year deal weren't immediately known.
McGowan said the deal allows the Blazers to be a more competitive basketball team and improve the team's facilities and fan experience.
"The Rose Garden put us on the map. Moda is going to take us into the future," he said.
McGowan said the Blazers heard from companies around the world in their search for a corporate naming partner, but hoped a "locally based partner" like Moda Health would come to the forefront.
The logo for the arena will incorporate a rose, team representatives said, and new signage will go up immediately.
Social media reaction
Early returns on Facebook and Twitter weren't exactly glowing for the name change.
"We (fans, states/cities, etc) long ago lost the battle of arena naming rights, but ModaCenter is about as blah/mundane corporate as it gets" - @ZachLowe_NBA
"We had one of like... Two classy stadium names in NBA stadiums. And now that's ruined. #RipCity#ModaCenter" - @QuesoCaliente
"I feel PDX just lost one of its land marks today #modacenter = fail" - @mirtisr