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Maryland basketball: Comcast Center is now XFINITY Center

Good bye, Comcast Center. Hello XFINITY Center!

By Dave Tucker

On Monday morning, the University of Maryland announced that the school's basketball arena, known as the Comcast Center since it opened in 2002, would now to called The XFINITY Center.

This is the second time a naming right's partner has changed the name of a venue at Maryland. Capital One Field was previously known as Chevy Chase Bank Field before Chevy Chase Bank was purchased by Capital One and changed the name prior to the 2009 season.

"We are excited to place the name Xfinity on this beloved University of Maryland sports venue," said Tom Coughlin, senior vice president of Comcast's Beltway region, in a press release. "Our Xfinity brand represents our commitment to delivering an unparalleled, innovative entertainment experience to local consumers, and our partnership with the University of Maryland athletics department underscores this promise."

The name change is effective immediately.

"We have enjoyed a longstanding and successful partnership with Comcast for more than a decade, and are excited to extend this relationship with the renaming of the XFINITY Center," said Maryland director of athletics Kevin Anderson in the release. "It is our goal to continue to provide our fans with a special gameday experience, and we look forward to unveiling new amenities at the XFINITY Center in the near future."

So why the change? It appears Comcast is trying to step up their XFinity branding and saw this as an opportunity to further the XFinity name. Again, from Maryland's press release:

The renaming to XFINITY Center is in accordance with the original partnership agreement between Comcast and the University of Maryland that allows Comcast - with mutual agreement - to utilize opportunities to extend its brand. The renaming efforts are taking place at no cost to the University of Maryland or Terrapin Athletics and are expected to be completed by mid-August.

So there you have it. What do you think about the name?

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