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Article: Distractions keep Palace from scoring on 'Hail Mary'.(Palace Sports and Entertainment wants to sell naming rights to Palace.)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Crain's Detroit Business
- Article date:
- January 24, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Palace Sports & Entertainment's yearlong effort to sell the corporate naming rights to The Palace of Auburn Hills was a sports-business version of a halftime ``Hail Mary'' pass in football.
The ``Hail Mary'' pass, for the uninitiated, is a long pass typically thrown into the end zone on the last play of a half or game. It is called a ``Hail Mary'' because there is just a prayer that it will be completed for a touchdown. Conversely, there is almost no risk that the pass will be intercepted and returned for a touchdown.
Thus, the play has almost no downside risk and only upside potential. That's how Palace Sports approached its naming-rights initiative, ...