A Sisyphean Proposal

For quite some time now, the selling of stadium naming rights has been a big income generator. Corporations pay anywhere from a few hundred thousand to several million dollars a year to have their name pasted on a stadium or arena (ESPN has an interesting list here). The benefit to the corporations, of course, is that they get their names mentioned and their signs seen during sporting events. Initially, there was some grumbling from fans over the loss of traditional stadium names, but now most have gotten over it and accept that their favorite team plays in an arena named after a phone company or bank.

I’m sure you’re aware of the state quarter program of the U.S. Mint. Minnesota is the next state to have its quarter released. The design chosen contains a lake with a duck and men fishing from a boat. Yawn. Why not scrap the boring, clichéd design and sell the rights to our quarter design? If people want to keep the quarter Minnesota themed, we could even limit the bidding to Minnesota companies. For a nice fat fee 3M could engrave it with Post-it® notes or Scotch® tape. Medtronic could put a pacemaker on it, or the Mall of America could put on their logo.

People go out of their way to seek out new state quarters, just think of the eyeballs the advertiser would get. Considering that the quarter will be around for years and years, I think a fee in the tens (hundreds?) of millions would not be out of the question.

Sure, some may object that the state quarters are supposed to reflect the heritage of the state, but that’s why we limit it to Minnesota companies. Everyone knows that Minnesota has lakes, but not everyone knows that we are also the home of the Post-it® note.

I can’t even see the lefties complaining about this one. What are they going to do? Accuse us of over-commercializing money? Come on folks, it’s a win-win situation. Let’s replace the lake with a stream – a revenue stream.