And you thought humanity dodged the end times in 2012 . . .
A California-based online dating service put the moves on Sugar Land this Valentine's week, offering the well-heeled suburb half a million dollars to change its name to SugarDaddie.com.
The dating website — "where the class, attractive and affluent meet" — wants to assure any doubters that the deal was legitimate. In a Tuesday statement, SugarDaddie CEO Steven Pasternack notes that the company is "very serious" about creating "the first dating site-sponsored city in America."
"No offense to SugarDaddie, but we received a lot more money for the naming rights of our baseball stadium alone."
“We thought it would be a great way to get the word out about our 10 year anniversary and to be a permanent part of the Great State of Texas,” he says.
The dating service explored options throughout the nation — from Sugar City, Co. to Sugar Creek, Mo. — before setting its sights on Sugar Land, hoping to tap the city's high median income ($113,261) and median home price ($369,600).
I'm no dating expert, but Pasternack might be coming on a little strong. He wants a guaranteed 10-year relationship that involves replacing all government-run entities with the company's moniker within six months. That means that Sugar Land Fire Department will become SugarDaddie.com Fire Department. Sugar Land Regional Airport will be known as SugarDaddie Regional.
While he only expects Constellation Field to be SugarDaddie.com Field for five years, the CEO demands to be given the key to the city in a public ceremony led by Sugar Land mayor James A. Thompson.
"No offense to SugarDaddie, but we received a lot more money for the naming rights of our baseball stadium alone," Doug Adolph from the City of Sugar Land's communications department tells CultureMap.
"Still, we have to give credit where credit is due," he laughs. "Those Californians are smarter than we give them credit for. This has been a great marketing ploy."
