Get ready for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to become part of your sports vocabulary

FROM KEITH GROLLER

With all of the sponsored stadium, ballpark and arena names across the sports landscape -- including our very own Coca-Cola Park in Allentown -- it was kind of refreshing to know that the Louisiana Superdome could still be instantly identified as that very big building in New Orleans that has hosted so many memorable sporting events over the years -- including the Sugar Bowl and several Super Bowls.

But now the Louisiana Superdome is going to be called the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday at the 36-year-old Superdome to announce the name change.

The 10-year deal was struck between the New Orleans Saints and the luxury car company.

The change will be effective with the Oct. 23 Sunday Night Football game between the Saints and Colts, a rematch of the 2010 Super Bowl that has lost a bit of pizzaz considering the Colts struggles without Peyton Manning.

Saints owner Tom Benson also owns Mercedes dealerships in New Orleans and San Antonio and it was, evidently, his wife's idea to get Mercedes involved with the lucrative stadium-naming business.

No financial terms were released, but this is evidently going to be good for New Oreans and the state Louisiana. The Superdome was, of course, the symbol of all that went wrong during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when hundreds came into the building for shelter and yet relief crews still did not get there in timely fashion to provide aid. The storm's damage forced the Superdome to undergo repairs and a renovation that cost more than $330 million.

Mercedes-Benz could not have picked a better time to get its name attached to the Superdome because a lot of big events will be unfolding there in the 16 months.

January's BCS championship game, will be played there along with April's men's Final Four and in February 2013, the Super Bowl.

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