The Houston Astros won a pair of World Series and four National League pennants while playing home games at Minute Maid Park.
Well, the ballpark isn’t going anywhere, but the Juice Box is no more.
The Astros on Monday announced a 15-year naming rights agreement with Daikin Comfort Technologies, which bills itself as ‘a leading global indoor comfort solutions provider.’
And the ballpark at the corner of Crawford Street and Texas Avenue will henceforth be known as Daikin Park.
‘We want to thank Minute Maid and The Coca-Cola Company for their longstanding commitment to our ballpark,” Astros owner Jim Crane said in a statement. ‘Minute Maid came on board at a very critical time in our history and we are thrilled they will continue to remain a partner of the Astros for many years to come.’
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That’s probably an understatement.
The Astros’ retractable-roof stadium opened in 2000 as Enron Field, an ode to the Houston-based energy company at the center of what became a massive accounting fraud. After Enron’s collapse and subsequent 2001 bankruptcy, Minute Maid stepped into the naming-rights void in 2002.
Three years later, the Astros won the NL pennant and advanced to their first World Series in history. They won their first championship in 2017, although that title was enshrouded in its own controversy, involving stolen signs instead of cooked books.
The Astros also won the World Series championship in 2022 and have reached the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons, including seven trips to the AL Championship Series.
The first regular season game at rebranded Daikin Field will be played March 27, the Astros’ home opener against the New York Mets.