Why Barclays is new name on NY subway

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

More than half of Afghanistan’s families live in extreme poverty

Leila is watching her baby intently, as his mouth moves trying to swallow the small blob of yellow p...

Time for a new approach to alcohol

Ambulances were called and three drunk teenagers were brought to my care. One was so drunk we had to...

Bahrain: One year on

I am used to endless lies and criticism from the BNP and its favourite blogster, as well as Islamist...

Paul Volcker stands tall against the banking lobby

Why is Europe, which likes to present itself as an opponent of speculative "Anglo-Saxon" finance, li...

There is a Barclay Square in London and a Barclay Street close to the where the Twin Towers once stood in lower Manhattan. But the maps of New York City will soon have to be reprinted to make way for a brand new name among the myriad already attached to stations along the subway system: Barclays Center.



In a deal signed this week, the people who run the New York subway – the Metropolitan Transport Authority – agreed that the second busiest station in the borough of Brooklyn that for decades has been known to train riders as Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street will soon be called Barclays Center.

The name change will coincide with the completion of the first phase in early 2012 of a huge redevelopment of train yards owned by the MTA in downtown Brooklyn, the centre-piece of which will be the largest and most expensive basketball arena in the country. A certain British bank will hold the naming rights to the arena and, New Yorkers are now learning, to the subway stop that will serve it.

It is not the first time that a public transport system in America has dabbled with corporate naming deals to raise extra cash. The monorail taking gamblers up and down the strip in Las Vegas is called the Nextel after the telecommunications giant, for example. But London-based Barclays is the first company to get its name attached to a stop on the New York subway.

Critics who think the tradition of naming stops in New York according to their geographical location works perfectly well will wonder what the MTA will come up with next. Could 42nd Street be renamed Disney Junction or, worse, Tinkerbell Terminus? Perhaps Continental Airlines would like to buy the naming rights to Columbus Circle.

Officials at the authority are indeed indicating that anything that would provide more cash for a system that is already bleeding dollars would be considered. "We're not closing anything out," a spokesman commented.

Not clear, however, is how much benefit such arrangements offer corporations. Barclays, however, may have a special motivation. It is one of the most powerful banks in the world and, since it purchased much of the defunct Lehman Brothers last year, also in New York. But few denizens of the city have ever heard of it. That will soon change, particularly for those riding the subway through Brooklyn.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Picture preview: Portrait of London

Portrait of London

Picture preview
No secularism please, we're British

No secularism please, we're British

Arguments about the role of religion in national life have recently acquired a new urgency
Harold Tillman: 'Chinese tourists can save the high street – if we let them'

Harold Tillman interview

'Chinese tourists can save the high street – if we let them'
Working as a jail torturer ruined my life

Working as a jail torturer ruined my life

Meet the former soldier who has joined the political prisoners he tortured in Turkey's Mamak prison by suing the generals who led a regime of terror
The local high street jet shop

The local high street jet shop

Got a spare $50m and can't stand the queues at Heathrow? Get yourself down to London's first private plane dealership
Do you like your doctor? It could be the death of you

Do you like your doctor?

It could be the death of you...
The mysterious affair of how Agatha Christie is teaching foreigners English

How Agatha Christie is teaching foreigners English

Twenty of the author's novels have been adapted and presented with learning notes and a CD
Six Grammys, five years off: Adele puts love before career

Six Grammys, five years off

Adele puts love before career
The 10 Best binoculars

The 10 Best binoculars

From no-frills to bins with digital cameras
Milan for £300

Milan for £300?

A cultural family holiday - on a budget - to Italy's most stylish city
'Black-hole' resorts: Turn up, tune out, log off

'Black-hole' resorts

Turn up, tune out, log off
New Arsenal face an old question of credibility in San Siro

New Arsenal face an old question of credibility in San Siro

Remodelled since winning in Milan in 2008, for all their consistency – and prize-money – Wenger's side are yet to claim a European title
James Lawton: This prodigal son deserves no forgiveness

James Lawton: This prodigal son deserves no forgiveness

City would be putting their desire to win title ahead of morals if Tevez plays for them
Mark Cavendish: Is Olympic gold at end of the rainbow?

Mark Cavendish interview

Is Olympic gold at end of the rainbow?
Apple admits it has a human rights problem

Apple admits it has a human rights problem

After years of complaints and workers' suicides in China the technology giant faces up to the human cost of its gadgets