Category: CitiField
Video: Shea Stadium Demolition
You can see the last piece of Shea Stadium coming down in this video from Yahoo:
The video was taken on February 18, 2009 at 11:25am. So long Shea…
Mets, Citigroup And Other Banking Culprits
It’s been well documented recently that Citigroup’s decision to purchase the naming rights of the New York Mets new stadium has turned into a PR disaster. Everyone and their brother has written about this extensively, including me.
It was interesting to see that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon’s defense of the deal is that everyone else is doing it too, so why single out Citigroup? As lame as that defense appears on the surface, I was curious to find out how accurate that was. Sure, it seems like the infamous childhood argument to your parents “I did it because everyone else was”. In this case though, Wilpon turns out to be correct.
Some of the companies have less impactful deals than Citigroup that don’t include naming stadiums. And all of the deals are certainly smaller financially than Citigroup’s commitment to the Mets. But everything is bigger in New York. Right?
The list of companies engaged in marketing deals with sports companies according to Bloomberg.com:
- Bank of America ($45 billion TARP)– $7 million/year through 2024 for a total of $140 million for the naming rights to the Carolina Panthers stadium. They’re also working on a deal for in-stadium naming rights at the new Yankee Stadium. They also have sponsorship deals with MLB, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, and the New England Patriots.
- Wachovia/Wells Fargo ($25 billion TARP)– naming rights for Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers for a total of $40 million.
- Bank of New York Mellon Corp. ($3 billion TARP)-naming rights deal with Pittsburgh Penguins for a total of $18 million, which expires at the end of this season.
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. ($25 billion TARP)-They’re in a $66 million naming rights deal for the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium Chase Field. And they’re also negotiating a deal for in-stadium naming rights at the new Yankee Stadium.
- PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. ($7.7 billion TARP)– PNC has a naming rights deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for PNC Park. They’re paying the Pirates $2 million/year until 2020 for a total of $22 million.
- Comerica ($2.25 billion TARP)– Detroit Tigers naming rights deal for Comerica Park valued at $2.2 million/year until 2030 for a total of $46.2 million.
- M&T Bank ($600 million TARP)– Sponsorship deal with the Baltimore Ravens at $5 million/year for a total of $45 million through 2018.
- BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc. (applied for $124 million TARP)– naming rights deal with the Florida Panthers at $2 million/year until 2015 for a total of $27 million.
- Raymond James Financial, Inc. (applied for TARP funds; amount unknown)– naming rights deal with Tampa Bay Buccaneers at $3.1 million/year until 2026 for a total of $45 million.
These are the companies that should be the targets of our outrage other than Citigroup. The US government propping up failing companies is distressing in itself, whether it’s financial companies making poor decisions or auto makers that are unable to compete in a world economy. We can still attack Citigroup’s naming rights deal with the Mets as ill-timed. That won’t change. But there are plenty of other culprits out there as well.
Mets, Citi Still In Naming Rights Deal?
There are various reports today that Citi Group is set to back out of the 20-year/$400 million naming rights deal signed in 2006 for Citi Field. Clearly, it’s bad PR for Citi to be spending lavishly on naming rights for a stadium when they’re laying people off and accepting public funds to stay afloat.
The Wall Street Journal states that Citi Group is exploring options on how to break the deal. They would owe the Mets quite a sum of money to bail out at this point, especially considering the Mets have been promoting this thing non-stop for three years.
To no one’s surprise, the Mets official site is claiming that Citi Group isn’t backing out of the deal. What else would you expect them to say? It’s a binding contract that Citi signed three years ago, and it’s going to stand.
My expectation is that Citi Group will quietly negotiate with the Mets to extricate themselves from this contract after the season ends.
Citi Field Is Hitter’s Park
SI’s Jon Heyman reports that the Mets held a secret batting practice last September at Citi Field to see how the field played. David Wright, Daniel Murphy, and Nick Evans took BP and it was determined that, despite the dimensions of the field, it’s going to play as a hitter’s park.
This secret batting practice was arranged so the Mets could calculate the play of the field into their off-season decision making process. Thus, the value of ground ball pitchers like Mike Pelfrey and Derek Lowe will have in the new stadium.
Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf are both fly ball pitchers so they may be slightly downgraded versus other free agents that typically get a lot of ground balls.
From the post by Heyman:
A secret batting practice session with David Wright, Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans last September at Citifield convinced all the players that the Mets’ new home won’t be the pitching park Mets people expected, but rather a launching pad for home runs. And some within their hierarchy have used this inside knowledge to stump for Lowe, a groundball pitcher, suggesting he might work better than Oliver Perez, a flyball pitcher.
Personally, I always liked that Shea was a pitcher’s park. Several of the “new” stadiums are complete jokes, like Philly and Cincy. The games are ridiculous because of the propensity for home runs. I was really hoping that Citi Field would play similarly to Shea. Oh well, I guess that’s not going to happen.
NYC Gives Up Citi Field Luxury Box
Mayor Bloomberg’s administration had negotiated a deal to have luxury boxes at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field during the financing deal for the new stadiums. After criticism emerged about the deals and with Bloomberg facing re-election, the City has given up the boxes.
It’s hard to understand how a government entity would even justify paying for luxury boxes. My understanding is that they go for mid- six figures.
Read the full story at The Sporting News.
State Lawmaker: Delay Citi Field Vote
It’s been widely reported this week that NY state assemblyman Richard Brodsky released a letter on Friday January 2nd requesting that the city Industrial Development Agency delay a vote on additioanl public bonds. Both the Yankees and Mets have requested additional public bonds to help finance their new stadiums.
From MLB.com:
The Yankees are asking for another $259 million in tax-exempt bonds and $111 million in taxable bonds, on top of the $940 million in tax-exempt bonds and $25 million in taxable bonds already granted for its $1.3 billion stadium.
The Mets want another $83 million, in addition to the $615 million already approved for their $800 million park.
Brodsky maintains that the initial public bond funding for the parks was provided without proper public input. Although I find public financing of stadiums somewhat distasteful, it’s become an economic reality.
I’m very skeptical of unknown politicians making a very public stand on issues that are sure to attain media attention. Although Brodsky may have the tax payers best interest at heart, I’m leaning toward this being a grand-standing move to gain public attention. Watch for Brodsky to run for congress representing Westchester County in 2010. You can get Brodsky’s contact information at his state assembly page here if you’d like to make him aware of your feelings on the subject of public bond financing for Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.
The Mets Report 