Red Bull New York

Major League Soccer's MetroStars are being sold and renamed Red Bull New York.

Anschutz Entertainment Group completed an agreement Thursday to sell the team to Red Bull Co. Ltd., an Austrian firm that manufactures an energy drink. Red Bull also bought naming rights for the soccer stadium the team hopes to build in Harrison, N.J., and will have 50 percent ownership. AEG will be in charge of building and operating the stadium.

Red Bull, which has a regional office in nearby Hoboken, N.J., also owns a soccer club in Austria, SV Red Bull Salzburg, and racing teams that compete in Formula One and NASCAR. The company also is involved in extreme sports.

Team president and general manager Alexi Lalas did not confirm the sale price but said it was the highest amount paid for an MLS club.

The full SI.com story...

This means we're one step closer to our sports teams to be draped in corporate logos and named after companies and products, like teams across the 'pond' are. In 2004, the MLB was going to put Spider-man 2 movie advertisements on the bases and outfield until public outrage reversed the decision and kept our baseball fields sacred and green. As Hal Bodley said, "there have to be ways to generate more revenue without commercializing anything between the white lines and betraying our national pastime." The overturning of that decision made me feel good about where the barriers were between commercialism and sporting events. But first NASCAR, now MLS. How long until this trend breeches a sport the country actually cares about?