Arena to Become Arrowhead Pond

The Walt Disney Co. is expected to announce today that the Anaheim Arena will officially be called the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim as part of a sponsorship agreement reached with Arrowhead Water Corp.

“The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim will quickly become part of sports lexicon,” Disney Chairman Michael Eisner says in a draft of a press statement expected to be released today. “This is a natural fit. Even the words Arrowhead and Pond sound as if they belong together.”

Details of the corporate sponsorship agreement are not expected to be released today, but sources indicate that it is worth between $1 million and $1.5 million annually.

Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water is the nation’s largest-selling bottled water. It is owned by the Perrier Group of America, a unit of Nestle S.A., whose products are featured at Disney theme parks.

The announcement will end a seven-month dispute involving Disney, the city of Anaheim and the arena managers, Ogden Corp., over what to call the new, $121-million sports complex. City and arena officials have continued to call the facility the Anaheim Arena until Disney was able to secure a corporate sponsorship. City and arena officials have said they feared that calling the arena the Pond would deter sponsors.