Garden will have a new name: TD Garden

Delaware North Cos., owner and operator of Boston's TD Banknorth Garden, together with the venue's naming rights partner, TD Banknorth, announced today, the arena will be officially renamed "TD Garden" in July.

"The new name of the arena comes at a time when TD Banknorth prepares to re-brand their New England operations to TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, in fall 2009," the companies said in a press release.

"The TD Banknorth Garden, soon to be 'TD Garden', is New England's world-class sports and entertainment arena, home to two of the country's most storied sports franchises - the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association," the press release added.

A Globe story from last year noted that TD Banknorth picked a new new name to use following its merger with Commerce Bancorp Inc. of New Jersey - TD Bank - as it faced a lawsuit.

Previous plans called for the combined banks were to be known as TD Commerce Bank.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit was brought by Commerce Bank & Trust Co., a 12-branch company in Worcester. In a federal suit, it claimed the name "TD Commerce Bank" would confuse customers.

TD Banknorth then decided on a new new name to use following its merger with Commerce Bancorp Inc. of New Jersey - TD Bank.

At that time, the bank said it had not decided what name to put on TD Banknorth Garden, where it owns naming rights. Bank officials said then that any final name would include the word "Garden."

To read that Globe story, please click here.

The photo that appears with this post was provided by Delaware North.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)