Teams would be better off, Howard said, to attract a company with a retail component, which is what RSL has its sights on.

"I'd prefer it would be a consumer brand, something that meant something to people. And that's not an attack on EnergySolutions, but they don't even sell to consumers, so why would they name a building like that?" RSL owner Dave Checketts said in a Deseret News story last month. "The reason is obviously to help their political and other clout, and we may find somebody like that before it's all over."

Meantime, it seems West Valley officials have been in a state of perpetual negotiation for naming rights at the E Center, short for Events Center, since it opened in 1997. They turned down $8 million from Colorado-based beer maker Coors in 2000. The search continues.

Should the Franklin Covey lettering be removed from the ballpark, it would be the second major name change in a Salt Lake sports venue. The Delta Center, the longtime home of the Utah Jazz, became EnergySolutions Arena in 2006. Delta Air Lines was struggling to the emerge from bankruptcy at the time.

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E-mail: romboy@desnews.com