Anthony Rieber: Dodgers latest MLB team to sell field naming rights; Yankees among seven yet to do it

The Mets open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday. Sorry, make that “Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.”

Yes, the Dodgers last month sold naming rights to the field at Dodger Stadium to a Japanese retailer for a reported $125 million over five years.

It’s not a stadium naming rights deal, the parties insist with a wink and a nod. It’s only for the field — second base, home plate, the outfield grass, the warning tracks, etc.

Maybe even the pitching rubber. Who knows?

“Dodger Stadium has been loved by the fans over many decades, so we have to respect that history while expressing our partnership together with the Dodgers,” Uniqlo’s Koji Yanai said. “This Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium name may be very new for everyone, but I hope in the near future, the fans will like it and will love it.”

Unlikely. Most fans will see it as another attempt to squeeze every dollar out of the baseball business, which is all fine and dandy until you look at ticket prices or your cable/streaming bill.

Dodger Stadium — the building itself, which opened in 1962 — is the third-oldest stadium in the big leagues, behind only Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914).

Fenway and Wrigley also are two of only seven out of 30 MLB ballparks that do not have a naming rights deal for either the stadium or field. They are:

*  Fenway Park (named after the neighborhood);

*  Wrigley Field (named after chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr.);

*  Angel Stadium;

*  Kauffman Stadium (named after Royals founder Ewing Kauffman)

*  Oriole Park at Camden Yards;

*  Nationals Park;

* Yankee Stadium.

Just for funsies, we asked the Yankees if they would ever consider selling naming rights to the field.

The team, through a spokesman, declined to reply.

But in 2008 — one year before the current stadium opened — then and now team president Randy Levine said of selling naming rights to the building: “The Yankee Stadium name is sacred. Yankee Stadium is the cathedral of baseball and would be unseemly for a naming rights deal.”

Hopefully the Yankees still feel that way and always will.

“Gap Field at Yankee Stadium” or “Old Navy Field at Yankee Stadium” just doesn’t have the best ring to it.

When the Mets opened their current ballpark, also in 2009, they didn’t go with Shea Stadium 2.0. Shea was a bit of a dump, but it was Mets fans’ beloved dump.

Still, the Mets under the Wilpons didn’t consider selling naming rights “unseemly.” The rights went to Citigroup for $400 million over 20 years. Thus was born Citi Field.

Look, there’s nothing wrong with sports teams trying to maximize revenue if they put the money back on the field, whether that field is called Uniqlo or not.

The Dodgers have been baseball’s biggest spenders for years now, so much so that the sport is staring down the barrel of a labor dispute that could cancel the 2027 season just so the financial might of large-market teams can be reined in.

And the Dodgers have a rich relationship with the Japanese market. Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are three big reasons Los Angeles repeated as World Series champions in 2025.

“We need a lot of revenue to put out the product that we do,” Dodgers president Stan Kasten told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s not a secret.”

Have you seen the recent TV commercial in which parents brag about selling naming rights to their kids? It was funny until you saw it for the 800th time. But it had a point.

So enjoy watching the Mets play the Dodgers this week from Dodger Stadium. And if you happen to notice the giant billboards promoting a certain Japanese retailer, just look at it as a sign of the times. For better or worse.