The GEO Group, a Florida-based multinational private prison corporation, has given $6 million to Florida Atlantic University to rename its football stadium "GEO Group Stadium."
As the New York Times pointed out, it's hardly the first instance of a major corporation with ties to a university (GEO Group's chairman is an FAU alum) buying naming rights to a building or sports stadium. "In recent years, where stadium naming rights could be sold, universities and professional sports teams have sold them — to airlines and banks and companies that sell beer, soda, doughnuts, cars, telecommunications, razors and baseball bats. This led to memorable examples like Enron Field, the KFC Yum! Center and the University of Phoenix Stadium," noted the Times' Greg Bishop.
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